I FELT A FUNERAL

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

And Mourners to and fro

Kept treading - treading - till it seemed

That Sense was breaking through -

And when they all were seated,

A Service, like a Drum -

Kept beating - beating - till I thought

My mind was going numb -

And then I heard them lift a Box

And creak across my Soul

With those same Boots of Lead, again,

Then Space - began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,

And Being, but an Ear,

And I, and Silence, some strange Race,

Wrecked, solitary, here -

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,

And I dropped down, and down -

And hit a World, at every plunge,

And Finished knowing - then -

I STARTED EARLY

I started Early – Took my Dog –

And visited the Sea –

The Mermaids in the Basement

Came out to look at me –

And Frigates – in the Upper Floor

Extended Hempen Hands –

Presuming Me to be a Mouse –

Aground – upon the Sands –

But no Man moved Me – till the Tide

Went past my simple Shoe –

And past my Apron – and my Belt

And past my Boddice – too –

And made as He would eat me up –

As wholly as a Dew

Opon a Dandelion's Sleeve –

And then – I started – too –

And He – He followed – close behind –

I felt His Silver Heel

Opon my Ancle – Then My Shoes

Would overflow with Pearl –

Until We met the Solid Town –

No One He seemed to know –

And bowing – with a Mighty look –

At me – The Sea withdrew –

"HOPE”

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

WHAT MYSTERY

What mystery pervades a well!

That water lives so far –

A neighbor from another world

Residing in a jar

Whose limit none has ever seen,

But just his lid of glass –

Like looking every time you please

In an abyss's face!

The grass does not appear afraid,

I often wonder he

Can stand so close and look so bold

At what is awe to me.

Related somehow they may be,

The sedge stands near the sea –

Where he is floorless

And does no timidity betray

But nature is a stranger yet:

The ones that cite her most

Have never passed her haunted house,

Nor simplified her ghost.

To pity those that know her not

Is helped by the regret

That those who know her, know her less

The nearer her they get.

ONE NEED NOT

One need not be a chamber—to be haunted—

One need not be a House—

The Brain—has Corridors surpassing

Material Place—

Far safer, of a Midnight—meeting

External Ghost—

Than an Interior—confronting—

That cooler—Host—

Far safer, through an Abbey—gallop—

The Stones a’chase—

Than moonless—One’s A’self encounter—

In lonesome place—

Ourself—behind Ourself—Concealed—

Should startle—most—

Assassin—hid in Our Apartment—

Be Horror’s least—

The Prudent—carries a Revolver—

He bolts the Door,

O’erlooking a Superior Spectre

More near—