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Posts published in “Poems”

I know of people in the Grave

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I know of people in the Grave Who would be very glad To know the news I know tonight If they the chance had had. ‘Tis this expands the least…

I keep my pledge

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46 I keep my pledge. I was not called- Death did not notice me. I bring my Rose. I plight again, By every sainted Bee- By Daisy called from hillside-…

I have never seen

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175 I have never seen “Volcanoes”- But, when Travellers tell How those old-phlegmatic mountains Usually so still- Bear within-appalling Ordnance, Fire, and smoke, and gun, Taking Villages for breakfast, And…

I have a King, who does not speak

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I have a King, who does not speak — So — wondering — thro’ the hours meek I trudge the day away — Half glad when it is night, and…

I had not minded-Walls

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398 I had not minded-Walls- Were Universe-one Rock- And fr I heard his silver Call The other side the Block- I’d tunnel-till my Groove Pushed sudden thro’ to his- Then…

I had no Cause to be awake

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I had no Cause to be awake- My Best-was gone to sleep- And Morn a new politeness took- And failed to wake them up- But called the others-clear- And passed…

I got so I could take his name

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293 I got so I could take his name- Without-Tremendous gain- That Stop-sensation-on my Soul- And Thunder-in the Room- I got so I could walk across That Angle in the…

I gave myself to Him

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580 I gave myself to Him- And took Himself, for Pay, The solemn contract of a Life Was ratified, this way- The Wealth might disappoint- Myself a poorer prove Than…

I gained it so

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359 I gained it so- By Climbing slow- By Catching at the Twigs that grow Between the Bliss-and me- It hung so high As well the Sky Attempt by Strategy-…

I felt a cleaving in my mind

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I felt a cleaving in my mind   As if my brain had split; I tried to match it, seam by seam,   But could not make them fit. The…

I dwell in Possibility

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657 I dwell in Possibility- A fairer House than Prose- More numerous of Windows- Superior-for Doors- Of Chambers as the Cedars- Impregnable of Eye- And for an Everlasting Roof The…

I cross till I am weary

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550 I cross till I am weary A Mountain – in my mind – More Mountains – then a Sea – More Seas – And then A Desert – find…

I could suffice for Him, I knew

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643 I could suffice for Him, I knew- He-could suffice for Me- Yet Hesitating Fractions-Both Surveyed Infinity- “Would I be Whole” He sudden broached- My syllable rebelled- ‘Twas face to…

I could die-to know

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570 I could die-to know- ‘Tis a trifling knowledge- News-Boys salute the Door- Carts-joggle by- Morning’s bold face-stares in the window- Were but mine-the Charter of the least Fly- Houses…

I could bring You Jewels-had I a mind to

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697 I could bring You Jewels-had I a mind to- But You have enough-of those- I could bring You Odors from St. Domingo- Colors-from Vera Cruz- Berries of the Bahamas-have…

I cannot buy it-’tis not sold

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840 I cannot buy it-’tis not sold- There is no other in the World- Mine was the only one I was so happy I forgot To shut the Door And…

I cannot be ashamed

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914 I cannot be ashamed Because I cannot see The love you offer- Magnitude Reverses Modesty And I cannot be proud Because a Height so high Involves Alpine Requirements And…

I can’t tell you-but you feel it

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65 I can’t tell you-but you feel it- Nor can you tell me- Saints, with ravished slate and pencil Solve our April Day! Sweeter than a vanished frolic From a…

I breathed enough to take the Trick

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I breathed enough to take the Trick- And now, removed from Air- I simulate the Breath, so well- That One, to be quite sure- The Lungs are stirless-must descend Among…

I asked no other thing

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621 I asked no other thing- No other-was denied- I offered Being-for it- The Mighty Merchant sneered- Brazil? He twirled a Button- Without a glance my way- “But-Madam-is there nothing…

I am ashamed-I hide

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473 I am ashamed-I hide- What right have I-to be a Bride- So late a Dowerless Girl- Nowhere to hide my dazzled Face- No one to teach me that new…

I am alive-I guess

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470 I am alive-I guess- The Branches on my Hand Are full of Morning Glory- And at my finger’s end- The Carmine-tingles warm- And if I hold a Glass Across…

How well I knew Her not

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837 How well I knew Her not Whom not to know has been A Bounty in prospective, now Next Door to mine the Pain.

How noteless Men, and Pleiads, stand

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How noteless Men, and Pleiads, stand, Until a sudden sky Reveals the fact that One is rapt Forever from the Eye- Members of the Invisible, Existing, while we stare, In…

His Feet are shod with Gauze

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916 His Feet are shod with Gauze- His Helmet, is of Gold, His Breast, a Single Onyx With Chrysophrase, inlaid. His Labor is a Chant- His Idleness-a Tune- Oh, for…

His Bill an Auger is

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1034 His Bill an Auger is, His Head, a Cap and Frill. He laboreth at every Tree A Worm, His utmost Goal.

Herein a Blossom lies

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899 Herein a Blossom lies- A Sepulchre, between- Cross it, and overcome the Bee- Remain-’tis but a Rind.

Her-

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312 Her-“last Poems”- Poets-ended- Silver-perished-with her Tongue- Not on Record-bubbled other, Flute-or Woman- So divine- Not unto its Summer-Morning Robin-uttered Half the Tune- Gushed too free for the Adoring- From…

Her breast is fit for pearls

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84 Her breast is fit for pearls, But I was not a “Diver”- Her brow is fit for thrones But I have not a crest. Her heart is fit for…

Her — “last Poems”

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Her — “last Poems” — Poets — ended — Silver — perished — with her Tongue — Not on Record — bubbled other, Flute — or Woman — So divine…

He who in Himself believes

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969 He who in Himself believes- Fraud cannot presume- Faith is Constancy’s Result- And assumes-from Home- Cannot perish, though it fail Every second time- But defaced Vicariously- For Some Other…

He was weak, and I was strong-then

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190 He was weak, and I was strong-then- So He let me lead him in- I was weak, and He was strong then- So I let him lead me-Home. ‘Twasn’t…

He touched me, so I live to know

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506 He touched me, so I live to know That such a day, permitted so, I groped upon his breast- It was a boundless place to me And silenced, as…

He parts Himself-like Leaves

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517 He parts Himself-like Leaves- And then-He closes up- Then stands upon the Bonnet Of Any Buttercup- And then He runs against And oversets a Rose- And then does Nothing-…

He found my Being-set it up

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603 He found my Being-set it up- Adjusted it to place- Then carved his name-upon it- And bade it to the East Be faithful-in his absence- And he would come…

He fought like those Who’ve nought to lose

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759 He fought like those Who’ve nought to lose- Bestowed Himself to Balls As One who for a further Life Had not a further Use- Invited Death-with bold attempt- But…

He forgot-and I-remembered

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203 He forgot-and I-remembered- ‘Twas an everyday affair- Long ago as Christ and Peter- “Warmed them” at the “Temple fire.” “Thou wert with him”-quoth “the Damsel”? “No”-said Peter, ’twasn’t me-…

Have any like Myself

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736 Have any like Myself Investigating March, New Houses on the Hill descried- And possibly a Church- That were not, We are sure- As lately as the Snow- And are…

Had I not This, or This, I said

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Had I not This, or This, I said, Appealing to Myself, In moment of prosperity- Inadequate-were Life- “Thou hast not Me, nor Me”-it said, In Moment of Reverse- “And yet…

Great Caesar! Condescend

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102 Great Caesar! Condescend The Daisy, to receive, Gathered by Cato’s Daughter, With your majestic leave!

Glowing is her Bonnet

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72 Glowing is her Bonnet, Glowing is her Cheek, Glowing is her Kirtle, Yet she cannot speak. Better as the Daisy From the Summer hill Vanish unrecorded Save by tearful…

Give little Anguish

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310 Give little Anguish – Lives will fret – Give Avalanches – And they’ll slant – Straighten – look cautious for their Breath – But make no syllable – like…

Garland for Queens, may be

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34 Garland for Queens, may be – Laurels – for rare degree Of soul or sword. Ah – but remembering me – Ah – but remembering thee – Nature in…

From Blank to Blank

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761 From Blank to Blank – A Threadless Way I pushed Mechanic feet – To stop – or perish – or advance – Alike indifferent – If end I gained…

Frequently the wood are pink

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6 Frequently the wood are pink – Frequently are brown. Frequently the hills undress Behind my native town. Oft a head is crested I was wont to see – And…

Forever at His side to walk

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246 Forever at His side to walk – The smaller of the two! Brain of His Brain – Blood of His Blood – Two lives – One Being – now…

Forever at His side to walk

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Forever at His side to walk — The smaller of the two! Brain of His Brain — Blood of His Blood — Two lives — One Being — now —…

Forever – it composed of Nows

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624 Forever – it composed of Nows – ‘Tis not a different time – Except for Infiniteness – And Latitude of Home – From this – experienced Here – Remove…

For this – accepted Breath

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195 For this – accepted Breath – Through it – compete with Death – The fellow cannot touch this Crown – By it – my title take – Ah, what…

For each ecstatic instant

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For each ecstatic instant We must an anguish pay In keen and quivering ratio To the Ecstasy. For each beloved hour Sharp pittances of years, Bitter contested farthings And coffers…

Fitter to see Him, I may be

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968 Fitter to see Him, I may be For the long Hindrance – Grace – to Me – With Summers, and with Winters, grow, Some passing Year – A trait…

First Robin

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I dreaded that first robin so, But he is mastered now, And I’m accustomed to him grown, — He hurts a little, though. I thought if I could only live…

Finite – to fail, but infinite to Venture

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847 Finite – to fail, but infinite to Venture – For the one ship that struts the shore Many’s the gallant – overwhelmed Creature Nodding in Navies nevermore –

Finding is the first Act

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870 Finding is the first Act The second, loss, Third, Expedition for The “Golden Fleece” Fourth, no Discovery – Fifth, no Crew – Finally, no Golden Fleece – Jason –…

Exultation is the going

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76 Exultation is the going Of an inland soul to sea, Past the houses – past the headlands – Into deep Eternity – Bred as we, among the mountains, Can…

Expectation – is Contentment

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807 Expectation – is Contentment – Gain – Satiety – But Satiety – Conviction Of Necessity Of an Austere trait in Pleasure – Good, without alarm Is a too established…

Exhilaration – is within

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383 Exhilaration – is within – There can no Outer Wine So royally intoxicate As that diviner Brand The Soul achieves – Herself – To drink – or set away…

Essential Oils – are wrung

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675 Essential Oils – are wrung – The Attar from the Rose Be not expressed by Suns – alone – It is the gift of Screws – The General Rose…

Escaping backward to perceive

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867 Escaping backward to perceive The Sea upon our place – Escaping forward, to confront His glittering Embrace – Retreating up, a Billow’s height Retreating blinded down Our undermining feet…

Embarrassment of one another

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662 Embarrassment of one another And God Is Revelation’s limit, Aloud Is nothing that is chief, But still, Divinity dwells under a seal.

Each Second is the last

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879 Each Second is the last Perhaps, recalls the Man Just measuring unconsciousness The Sea and Spar between. To fail within a Chance – How terribler a thing Than perish…

Each Scar I’ll keep for Him

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877 Each Scar I’ll keep for Him Instead I’ll say of Gem In His long Absence worn A Costlier one But every Tear I bore Were He to count them…

Dying! To be afraid of thee

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831 Dying! To be afraid of thee One must to thine Artillery Have left exposed a Friend – Than thine old Arrow is a Shot Delivered straighter to the Heart…

Dying (I heard a fly buzz when I died)

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I heard a fly buzz when I died;    The stillness round my form    Was like the stillness in the air    Between the heaves of storm.    The…

Dying

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I heard a fly buzz when I died; The stillness round my form Was like the stillness in the air Between the heaves of storm. The eyes beside had wrung…

Dropped into the Ether Acre

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665 Dropped into the Ether Acre – Wearing the Sod Gown – Bonnet of Everlasting Laces – Brooch – frozen on – Horses of Blonde – and Coach of Silver…

Drab Habitation of Whom?

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893 Drab Habitation of Whom? Tabernacle or Tomb – Or Dome of Worm – Or Porch of Gnome – Or some Elf’s Catacomb?

Doubt Me! My Dim Companion!

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275 Doubt Me! My Dim Companion! Why, God, would be content With but a fraction of the Life – Poured thee, without a stint – The whole of me –…

Don’t put up my Thread and Needle

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617 Don’t put up my Thread and Needle – I’ll begin to Sew When the Birds begin to whistle – Better Stitches – so – These were bent – my…

Did you ever stand in a Cavern’s Mouth

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590 Did you ever stand in a Cavern’s Mouth – Widths out of the Sun – And look – and shudder, and block your breath – And deem to be…

Did we disobey Him?

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267 Did we disobey Him? Just one time! Charged us to forget Him – But we couldn’t learn! Were Himself – such a Dunce – What would we – do?…

Did the Harebell loose her girdle

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213 Did the Harebell loose her girdle To the lover Bee Would the Bee the Harebell hallow Much as formerly? Did the “Paradise” – persuaded – Yield her moat of…

Did Our Best Moment last

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393 Did Our Best Moment last – ‘Twould supersede the Heaven – A few – and they by Risk – procure – So this Sort – are not given –…

Deprived of other Banquet

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773 Deprived of other Banquet, I entertained Myself- At first-a scant nutrition- An insufficient Loaf- But grown by slender addings To so esteemed a size ‘Tis sumptuous enough for me-…

Departed to the judgment,

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Departed to the judgment, A mighty afternoon; Great clouds like ushers leaning, Creation looking on. The flesh surrendered, cancelled The bodiless begun; Two worlds, like audiences, disperse And leave the…

Denial – is the only fact

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965 Denial – is the only fact Perceived by the Denied – Whose Will – a numb significance – The Day the Heaven died – And all the Earth strove…

Delight is as the flight

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257 Delight is as the flight – Or in the Ratio of it, As the Schools would say – The Rainbow’s way – A Skein Flung colored, after Rain, Would…

Delight becomes pictorial

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Delight becomes pictorial When viewed through pain, — More fair, because impossible That any gain. The mountain at a given distance In amber lies; Approached, the amber flits a little,…

Delayed till she had ceased to know

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58 Delayed till she had ceased to know – Delayed till in its vest of snow Her loving bosom lay – An hour behind the fleeting breath – Later by…

Crumbling is not an instant’s Act

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997 Crumbling is not an instant’s Act A fundamental pause Dilapidation’s processes Are organized Decays. ‘Tis first a Cobweb on the Soul A Cuticle of Dust A Borer in the…

Could live – did live

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43 Could live – did live – Could die – did die – Could smile upon the whole Through faith in one he met not, To introduce his soul. Could…

Could I but ride indefinite

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661 Could I but ride indefinite As doth the Meadow Bee And visit only where I liked And No one visit me And flirt all Day with Buttercups And marry…

Could – I do more – for Thee

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447 Could – I do more – for Thee – Wert Thou a Bumble Bee – Since for the Queen, have I – Nought but Bouquet?

Conjecturing a Climate

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562 Conjecturing a Climate Of unsuspended Suns – Adds poignancy to Winter – The Shivering Fancy turns To a fictitious Country To palliate a Cold – Not obviated of Degree…

Come slowly

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Come slowly, Eden Lips unused to thee. Bashful, sip thy jasmines, As the fainting bee, Reaching late his flower, Round her chamber hums, Counts his nectars -alights, And is lost…

Color – Caste – Denomination

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970 Color – Caste – Denomination – These – are Time’s Affair – Death’s diviner Classifying Does not know they are – As in sleep – All Hue forgotten –…

Cocoon above! Cocoon below!

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129 Cocoon above! Cocoon below! Stealthy Cocoon, why hide you so What all the world suspect? An hour, and gay on every tree Your secret, perched in ecstasy Defies imprisonment!…

Civilization – spurns – the Leopard!

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492 Civilization – spurns – the Leopard! Was the Leopard – bold? Deserts – never rebuked her Satin – Ethiop – her Gold – Tawny – her Customs – She…

Chartless

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I never saw a moor,   I never saw the sea;   Yet now I know how the heather looks,   And what a wave must be.   I never…

Cat

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She sights a Bird – she chuckles – She flattens – then she crawls – She runs without the look of feet – Her eyes increase to Balls – Her…

By such and such an offering

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38 By such and such an offering To Mr. So and So, The web of live woven – So martyrs albums show!

By my Window have I for Scenery

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797 By my Window have I for Scenery Just a Sea – with a Stem – If the Bird and the Farmer – deem it a “Pine” – The Opinion…

By Chivalries as tiny

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55 By Chivalries as tiny, A Blossom, or a Book, The seeds of smiles are planted – Which blossom in the dark.

But little Carmine hath her face

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558 But little Carmine hath her face – Of Emerald scant – her Gown – Her Beauty – is the love she doth – Itself – exhibit – Mine –

Bound – a trouble

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269 Bound – a trouble – And lives can bear it! Limit – how deep a bleeding go! So – many – drops – of vital scarlet – Deal with…

Best Things dwell out of Sight

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998 Best Things dwell out of Sight The Pearl – the Just – Our Thought. Most shun the Public Air Legitimate, and Rare – The Capsule of the Wind The…

Besides this May

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977 Besides this May We know There is Another – How fair Our Speculations of the Foreigner! Some know Him whom We knew – Sweet Wonder – A Nature be…

Bereaved of all, I went abroad

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784 Bereaved of all, I went abroad – No less bereaved was I Upon a New Peninsula – The Grave preceded me – Obtained my Lodgings, ere myself – And…

Bequest

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You left me, sweet, two legacies, — A legacy of love A Heavenly Father would content, Had He the offer of; You left me boundaries of pain Capacious as the…