We grow accustomed to the Dark –
When light is put away –
As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
To witness her Goodbye –
A Moment — We uncertain step
For newness of the night –
Then — fit our Vision to the Dark –
And meet the Road — erect –
And so of larger — Darkness –
Those Evenings of the Brain –
When not a Moon disclose a sign –
Or Star — come out — within –
The Bravest — grope a little –
And sometimes hit a Tree
Directly in the Forehead –
But as they learn to see –
Either the Darkness alters –
Or something in the sight
Adjusts itself to Midnight –
And Life steps almost straight.
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Not in this World to see his face –
Sounds long — until I read the place
Where this — is said to be
But just the Primer — to a life –
Unopened — rare — Upon the Shelf –
Clasped yet — to Him — and Me –
And yet — My Primer suits me so
I would not choose — a Book to know
Than that — be sweeter wise –
Might some one else — so learned — be –
And leave me — just my A — B — C –
Himself — could have the Skies –
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Is it dead — Find it –
Out of sound — Out of sight –
“Happy”? Which is wiser –
You, or the Wind?
“Conscious”? Won’t you ask that –
Of the low Ground?
“Homesick”? Many met it –
Even through them — This
Cannot testify –
Themself — as dumb –
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Sunset at Night — is natural –
But Sunset on the Dawn
Reverses Nature — Master –
So Midnight’s — due — at Noon.
Eclipses be — predicted –
And Science bows them in –
But do one face us suddenly –
Jehovah’s Watch — is wrong.
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‘Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch,
That nearer, every Day,
Kept narrowing its boiling Wheel
Until the Agony
Toyed coolly with the final inch
Of your delirious Hem –
And you dropt, lost,
When something broke –
And let you from a Dream –
As if a Goblin with a Gauge –
Kept measuring the Hours –
Until you felt your Second
Weigh, helpless, in his Paws –
And not a Sinew — stirred — could help,
And sense was setting numb –
When God — remembered — and the Fiend
Let go, then, Overcome –
As if your Sentence stood — pronounced –
And you were frozen led
From Dungeon’s luxury of Doubt
To Gibbets, and the Dead –
And when the Film had stitched your eyes
A Creature gasped “Reprieve”!
Which Anguish was the utterest — then –
To perish, or to live?
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I never felt at Home — Below –
And in the Handsome Skies
I shall not feel at Home — I know –
I don’t like Paradise –
Because it’s Sunday — all the time –
And Recess — never comes –
And Eden’ll be so lonesome
Bright Wednesday Afternoons –
If God could make a visit –
Or ever took a Nap –
So not to see us — but they say
Himself — a Telescope
Perennial beholds us –
Myself would run away
From Him — and Holy Ghost — and All –
But there’s the “Judgement Day”!
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The Color of the Grave is Green –
The Outer Grave — I mean –
You would not know it from the Field –
Except it own a Stone –
To help the fond — to find it –
Too infinite asleep
To stop and tell them where it is –
But just a Daisy — deep –
The Color of the Grave is white –
The outer Grave — I mean –
You would not know it from the Drifts –
In Winter — till the Sun –
Has furrowed out the Aisles –
Then — higher than the Land
The little Dwelling Houses rise
Where each — has left a friend –
The Color of the Grave within –
The Duplicate — I mean –
Not all the Snows could make it white –
Not all the Summers — Green –
You’ve seen the Color — maybe –
Upon a Bonnet bound –
When that you met it with before –
The Ferret — cannot find –
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The first Day’s Night had come –
And grateful that a thing
So terrible — had been endured –
I told my Soul to sing –
She said her Strings were snapt –
Her Bow — to Atoms blown –
And so to mend her — gave me work
Until another Morn –
And then — a Day as huge
As Yesterdays in pairs,
Unrolled its horror in my face –
Until it blocked my eyes –
My Brain — begun to laugh –
I mumbled — like a fool –
And tho’ ’tis Years ago — that Day –
My Brain keeps giggling — still.
And Something’s odd — within –
That person that I was –
And this One — do not feel the same –
Could it be Madness — this?
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