XXI.

A BOOK.

He ate and drank the precious words, His spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, Nor that his frame was dust.

He danced along the dingy days, And this bequest of wings Was but a book. What liberty A loosened spirit brings!

XXII.

I had no time to hate, because The grave would hinder me, And life was not so ample I Could finish enmity.

Nor had I time to love; but since Some industry must be, The little toil of love, I thought, Was large enough for me.

XXIII.

UNRETURNING.

'T was such a little, little boat That toddled down the bay!

'T was such a gallant, gallant sea That beckoned it away!

'T was such a greedy, greedy wave That licked it from the coast; Nor ever guessed the stately sails My little craft was lost!

XXIV.

Whether my bark went down at sea, Whether she met with gales, Whether to isles enchanted She bent her docile sails;

By what mystic mooring She is held to-day, -- This is the errand of the eye Out upon the bay.

XXV.

Belshazzar had a letter, -- He never had but one; Belshazzar's correspondent Concluded and begun In that immortal copy The conscience of us all Can read without its gla.s.ses On revelation's wall.

XXVI.

The brain within its groove Runs evenly and true; But let a splinter swerve, 'T were easier for you To put the water back When floods have slit the hills, And scooped a turnpike for themselves, And blotted out the mills!

II. LOVE.

I.

MINE.

Mine by the right of the white election!

Mine by the royal seal!

Mine by the sign in the scarlet prison Bars cannot conceal!

Mine, here in vision and in veto!

Mine, by the grave's repeal t.i.tled, confirmed, -- delirious charter!

Mine, while the ages steal!

II.

BEQUEST.

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 sea, Between eternity and time, Your consciousness and me.

III.

Alter? When the hills do.

Falter? When the sun Question if his glory Be the perfect one.

Surfeit? When the daffodil Doth of the dew: Even as herself, O friend!