THE GRASS - The grass so little has to do
The grass so little has to do, -- / A sphere of simple green,
How the old mountains drip with sunset,
And the brake of dun!
How the hemlocks are tipped in tinsel
By the wizard sun!
How the old steeples hand the scarlet,
Till the ball is full, --
Have I the lip of the flamingo
That I dare to tell?
Then, how the fire ebbs like billows,
Touching all the grass
With a departing, sapphire feature,
As if a duchess pass!
How a small dusk crawls on the village
Till the houses blot;
And the odd flambeaux no men carry
Glimmer on the spot!
Now it is night in nest and kennel,
And where was the wood,
Just a dome of abyss is nodding
Into solitude! --
These are the visions baffled Guido;
Titian never told;
Domenichino dropped the pencil,
Powerless to unfold.
The grass so little has to do, -- / A sphere of simple green,
I many times thought peace had come, / When peace was far away;
After a hundred years / Nobody knows the place, --
GOING to him! Happy letter! Tell him -- / Tell him the page I didn't write;