I guess folks think I’m mighty dumb Since Jack and Jim and JoeHave hit the trail to Kingdom Come And left me here below:Since Death, the bastard, bowled them out, And left me faced with–Doubt. My pals have all passed out on me And I am by my lone;Old Bill was last, and now I [...]

The face of all the world is changed, I think,Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soulMove still, oh, still, beside me, as they stoleBetwixt me and the dreadful outer brinkOf obvious death, where I, who thought to sink,Was caught up into love, and taught the wholeOf life in a new rhythm. The cup [...]

I SEE thee better in the dark,I do not need a light.The love of thee a prism beExcelling violet. I see thee better for the yearsThat hunch themselves between,The miner’s lamp sufficient beTo nullify the mine. And in the grave I see thee best–Its little panels beA-glow, all ruddy with the lightI held so high [...]

O Sorrow, cruel fellowship, ; ; ; ;O Priestess in the vaults of Death, ; ; ; ;O sweet and bitter in a breath,What whispers from thy lying lip?The stars, she whispers, blindly run; ; ; ; ;A web is wov’n across the sky; ; ; ; ;From out waste places comes a cry,And murmurs [...]

I HEAR the Shadowy Horses, their long manes a-shake,Their hoofs heavy with tumult, their eyes glimmering white;The North unfolds above them clinging, creeping night,The East her hidden joy before the morning break,The West weeps in pale dew and sighs passing away,The South is pouring down roses of crimson fire:O vanity of Sleep, Hope, Dream, endless [...]

I know how father’s strap would feel,If ever I were caught,So mother’s jam I did not steal,Though theft was in my thought.Then turned fourteen and full of pitch,Of love I was afraid,And did not dare to dally withOur pretty parlour maid. And so it is and always was,The path of rectitudeI’ve followed all my life [...]

Always the same, when on a fated nightAt last the gathered snow lets down as whiteAs may be in dark woods, and with a songIt shall not make again all winter longOf hissing on the yet uncovered ground,I almost stumble looking up and round,As one who overtaken by the endGives up his errand, and lets [...]

And therefore if to love can be desert,I am not all unworthy. Cheeks as paleAs these you see, and trembling knees that failTo bear the burden of a heavy heart,–This weary minstrel-life that once was girtTo climb Aornus, and can scarce availTo pipe now ‘gainst the valley nightingaleA melancholy music,–why advertTo these things? O Beloved, [...]

OF Death the sharpest function,That, just as we discern,The Excellence defies us;Securest gathered thenThe fruit perverse to plucking,But leaning to the sightWith the ecstatic limitOf unobtained Delight. – OF Death the sharpest function by Emily Dickinson

You’ve seen balloons set, haven’t you? So stately they ascendIt is as swans discarded you For duties diamond. Their liquid feet go softly out Upon a sea of blond;They spurn the air as ‘t were too mean For creatures so renowned. Their ribbons just beyond the eye, They struggle some for breath,And yet the crowd [...]