Mad for Poetry

He put the belt around my life, —    I heard the buckle snap,    And turned away, imperial,    My lifetime folding up    Deliberate, as a duke would do    A kingdom’s title-deed,…

I measure every grief I meet    With analytic eyes;    I wonder if it weighs like mine,    Or has an easier size.     I wonder if they bore it long,    Or…

The leaves, like women, interchange    Sagacious confidence;    Somewhat of nods, and somewhat of    Portentous inference,     The parties in both cases    Enjoining secrecy, —    Inviolable compact    To notoriety.

Good night! which put the candle out?    A jealous zephyr, not a doubt.    Ah! friend, you little knew    How long at that celestial wick    The angels labored diligent;    Extinguished, now,…

Went up a year this evening!    I recollect it well!    Amid no bells nor bravos    The bystanders will tell!    Cheerful, as to the village,    Tranquil, as to repose,    Chastened, as to…

On such a night, or such a night,    Would anybody care    If such a little figure    Slipped quiet from its chair,     So quiet, oh, how quiet!    That nobody might…

Going to heaven!    I don’t know when,    Pray do not ask me how, —    Indeed, I ‘m too astonished    To think of answering you!    Going to heaven! —    How dim it…

Given in marriage unto thee,    Oh, thou celestial host!    Bride of the Father and the Son,    Bride of the Holy Ghost!     Other betrothal shall dissolve,    Wedlock of will decay;    Only…

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…