– by

ASLEEP. As far from pity as complaint, As cool to speech as stone,As numb to revelation As if my trade were bone. As far from time as history, As near yourself to-dayAs children to the rainbow’s scarf, Or sunset’s yellow play To eyelids in the sepulchre. How still the dancer lies,While color’s revelations break, And [...]

Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowersPlucked in the garden, all the summer through,And winter, and it seemed as if they grewIn this close room, nor missed the sun and showers.So, in the like name of that love of ours,Take back these thoughts which here unfolded too,And which on warm and cold days I withdrewFrom [...]

I love the cheery bustleOf children round the house,The tidy maids a-hustle,The chatter of my spouse;The laughter and the singing,The joy on every face:With frequent laughter ringing,O, Home’s a happy place! Aye, Home’s a bit of heaven;I love it every day;My line-up of elevenCombine to make it gay;Yet when in June they’re leavingFor Sandport by [...]

Once I said to a scarecrow, You must be tired of standing in thislonely field. And he said, The joy of scaring is a deep and lasting one, and Inever tire of it. Said I, after a minute of thought, It is true; for I too haveknown that joy. Said he, Only those who are [...]

Who never wanted, — maddest joy Remains to him unknown:The banquet of abstemiousness Surpasses that of wine. Within its hope, though yet ungrasped Desire’s perfect goal,No nearer, lest reality Should disenthrall thy soul. – DESIRE – Who never wanted, — maddest joy by Emily Dickinson

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the [...]

These are the days when birds come back,A very few, a bird or two,To take a backward look. These are the days when skies put onThe old, old sophistries of June, –A blue and gold mistake. Oh, fraud that cannot cheat the bee,Almost thy plausibilityInduces my belief, Till ranks of seeds their witness bear,And softly [...]

I worked for a woman,She wasn’t mean–But she had a twelve-roomHouse to clean. Had to get breakfast,Dinner, and supper, too–Then take care of her childrenWhen I got through. Wash, iron, and scrub,Walk the dog around–It was too much,Nearly broke me down. I said, Madam,Can it beYou trying to make aPack-horse out of me? She opened [...]

LIGHT human nature is too lightly tostAnd ruffled without cause, complaining on–Restless with rest, until, being overthrown,It learneth to lie quiet. Let a frostOr a small wasp have crept to the inner-mostOf our ripe peach, or let the wilful sunShine westward of our window,–straight we runA furlong’s sigh as if the world were lost.But what [...]