Contents introduction xxvii poems. 1890. prelude book i. life. success  “our share of the night to bear. . .”  rouge et noir  rouge gagne  “glee! the great storm is over. . .”  “if i can stop one heart from breaking. . .”  almost!  “a wounded dear leaps highest. . .”  “the heart asks pleasure first. . .”  in a library  “much madness is divinest sense. . .”  “i asked no other thing. . .”  exclusion  the secret  the lonely house  “to fight aloud is very brave. . .”  dawn  the book of martyrs  the mystery of pain  “i taste a liquor never brewed. . .”  a book  “i had no time to hate, because. . .”  unreturning  “whether my bark went down at sea. . .”  “belshazzar had a letter. . .”  “the brain within its groove. . .”  book ii. love. mine  bequest  “alter? when the hills do. . .”  suspense  surrender  “if you were coming in the fall. . .”  with a flower proof  “have you got a brook in your little heart?”  transplanted  the outlet  in vain  renunciation  love’s baptism  resurrection  apocalypse  the wife  apotheosis  book iii. nature. “new feet within my garden go. . .”  may-flower  why?  “perhaps you’d like to buy a flower. . .”  “the pedigree of honey. . .”  a service of song  “the bee is not afraid of me. . .”  summer’s armies  the grass  “a little road not made of man. . .”  summer shower  psalm of the day  the sea of sunset  purple clover  the bee  “presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn. . .”  “as children bid the guest good-night. . .”  “angels in the early morning. . .”  “so bashful when i spied her. . .”  two worlds  the mountain  a day  “the butterfly’s assumption-gown. . .”  the wind  death and life  “’twas later when the summer went. . .”  indian summer  autumn  beclouded  the hemlock  “there’s a certain slant of light. . .”  book iv. time and eternity. “one dignity delays for all. . .”  too late astra castra  “safe in their alabaster chambers. . .”  “on this long storm the rainbow rose. . .”  from the chrysalis  setting sail  “look back on time with kindly eyes. . .”  “a train went through a burial gate. . .”  “i died for beauty, but was scarce. . .”  troubled about many things  real  the funeral  “i went to thank her. . .”  “i’ve seen a dying eye. . .”  refuge  “i never saw a moor. . .”  playmates  “to know just how he suffered would be dear. . .”  “the last night that she lived. . .”  the first lesson  “the bustle in a house. . .” “i reason, earth is short. . .”  “afraid? of whom am i afraid?”  dying  “two swimmers wrestled on the spar. . .”  the chariot  “she went as quiet as the dew. . .”  resurgam  “except to heaven she is nought. . .”  “death is a dialogue between. . .”  “it was too late for man. . .”  along the potomac  “the daisy follows soft the sun. . .”  emancipation  lost  “if i shouldn’t be alive. . .”  “sleep is supposed to be. . .”  “i shall know why when time is over. . .”  “i never lost as much but twice. . .”  poems. 1891. “my nosegays are for captives. . .”  book i. life. “i’m nobody! who are you?”  “i bring an unaccustomed wine. . .”  “the nearest dream recedes, unrealized. . .”  “we play at paste. . .” “i found the phrase to every thought. . .”  hope  the white heat  triumph  the test  escape  compensation  the martyrs  a prayer  “the thought beneath so slight a film. . .”  “the soul unto itself. . .”  “surgeons must be very careful. . .”  the railway train  the show  “delight becomes pictorial. . .”  “a thought went up my mind today. . .”  “is heaven a physician?”  the return  “a poor torn heart, a tattered heart. . .”  too much  shipwreck  “victory comes late. . .”  enough  “experiment to me. . .”  my country’s wardrobe “faith is fine invention. . .”  “except the heaven had come so near. . .”  “portraits are to daily faces. . .”  the duel  “a shady friend for torrid days. . .”  the goal  sight  “talk with prudence to a beggar. . .”  the preacher “good night! which put the candle out?”  “when i hoped i feared. . .”  deed  time’s lesson  remorse  the shelter  “undue significance a starving man attaches. . .”  “heart not so heavy as mine. . .”  “i many times thought peace had come. . .”  “unto my books so good to turn. . .”  “this merit hath the worst. . .”  hunger  “i gained it so. . .” “to learn the transport by the pain. . .”  returning  prayer  “i know that he exists. . .”  melodies unheard  called back  book ii. love. choice  “i have no life but this. . .”  “your riches taught me poverty. . .”  the contract  the letter  “the way i read a letter’s this. . .”  “wild nights! wild nights!”  at home 89 possession  “a charm invests a face. . .”  the lovers  “in lands i never saw, they say. . .”  “the moon is distant from the sea. . .”  “he put the belt around my life. . .”  the lost jewel  “what if i say i shall not wait?”  book iii. nature. mother nature  out of the morning  “at half-past three a single bird. . .”  day’s parlor  the sun’s wooing  the robin  the butterfly’s day  the bluebird  april  the sleeping flowers  my rose  the oriole’s secret  the oriole  in shadow  the humming-bird  secrets  “who robbed the woods. . .”  two voyagers  by the sea  old-fashioned  a tempest  the sea in the garden  the snake  the mushroom  the storm  the spider  “i know a place where summer strives. . .”  “the one that could repeat the summer day. . .”  the wind’s visit  “nature, rarer uses yellow. . .”  gossip  simplicity  storm  the rat  “frequently the woods are pink. . .”  a thunder-storm  with flowers  sunset  “she sweeps with many-colored brooms. . .”  “like mighty footlights burned the red. . .”  problems  the juggler of day  my cricket  “as imperceptibly as grief. . .”  “it can’t be summer,—that got through. . .”  summer’s obsequies  fringed gentian  november  the snow  the bluejay  book iv. time and eternity. “let down the bars, o death!”  “going to heaven!”  “at least to pray is left, is left. . .”  epitaph  “morns like these we parted. . .”  “a death-blow is a life-blow to some. . .”  “i read my sentence steadily. . .”  “i have not told my garden yet. . .”  the battle-field  “the only ghost i ever saw. . .”  “some, too fragile for winter winds. . .”  “as by the dead we love to sit. . .”  memorials  “i went to heaven. . .”  “their height in heaven comforts not. . .”  “there is a shame of nobleness. . .”  triumph  “pompless no life can pass away. . .”  “i noticed people disappeared. . .”  following  “if anybody’s friend be dead. . .”  the journey  a country burial  going  “essential oils are wrung. . .”  “i lived on dread; to those who know. . .”  “if i should die. . .”  at length  ghosts  vanished  precedence  gone  requiem  “what inn is this. . .”  “it was not death, for i stood up. . .”  till the end  void  “a throe upon the features. . .”  saved!  “i think just how my shape will rise. . .”  the forgotten grave  “lay this laurel on the one. . .”  poems. 1896. “’tis all i have to bring today. . .”  book i. life. real riches  superiority to fate  hope  forbidden fruit (i)  forbidden fruit (ii)  a word  “to venerate the simple days. . .”  life’s trades  “drowning is not so pitiful. . .”  “how still the bells in steeples stand. . .”  “if the foolish call them ‘flowers’. . .”  a syllable  parting  aspiration  the inevitable  a book  “who has not found the heaven below. . .”  a portrait  i had a guinea golden  saturday afternoon  “few get enough,—enough is one. . .”  “upon the gallows hung a wretch. . .”  the lost thought  reticence  with flowers  “the farthest thunder that i heard. . .”  “on the bleakness of my lot. . .”  contrast  friends  fire  a man  ventures  griefs  “i have a king who does not speak. . .”  disenchantment  lost faith  lost joy  “i worked for chaff, and earning wheat. . .”  “life, and death, and giants. . .”  alpine glow  remembrance  “to hang our head ostensibly. . .”  the brain  “the bone that has no marrow. . .”  the past  “to help our bleaker parts. . .”  “what soft, cherubic creatures. . .”  desire  philosophy  power  “a modest lot, a fame petite. . .”  “in bliss, then, such abyss. . .”  experience  thanksgiving day  childish griefs  book ii. love. consecration  love’s humility  love  satisfied  with a flower  song  loyalty  “to lose thee, sweeter than to gain. . .”  “poor little heart!”  forgotten  “i’ve got an arrow here. . .”  the master  “heart, we will forget him!”  “father, i bring thee not myself. . .”  “we outgrow love like other things. . .”  “not with a club the heart is broken. . .”  who?  “he touched me, so i live to know. . .”  dreams  numen lumen  longing  wedded  book iii. nature. nature’s changes  the tulip  “a light exists in spring. . .”  the waking year  to march  march  dawn  “a murmur in the trees to note. . .”  “morning is the place for dew. . .”  “to my quick ear the leaves conferred. . .”  a rose  “high from the earth i heard a bird. . .”  cobwebs  a well  “to make a prairie it takes a clover. . .”  the wind  “a dew sufficed itself. . .”  the woodpecker  a snake  “could i but ride indefinite. . .”  the moon  the bat  the balloon  evening  cocoon  sunset  aurora  the coming of night  aftermath  book iv. time and eternity. “this world is not conclusion. . .”  “we learn in the retreating. . .”  “they say that ‘time assuages’. . .”  “we cover thee, sweet face. . .”  “that is solemn we have ended. . .”  “the stimulus, beyond the grave. . .”  “given in marriage unto thee. . .”  “that such have died enables us. . .”  “they won’t frown always,—some sweet day. . .”  immortality  “the distance that the dead have gone. . .”  “how dare the robins sing. . .”  death  unwarned  “each that we lose takes part of us. . .”  “not any higher stands the grave. . .”  asleep  the spirit  the monument  “bless god, he went as soldiers. . .”  “immortal is an ample word. . .”  “where every bird is bold to go. . .”  “the grave my little cottage is. . .”  “this was in the white of the year. . .”  “sweet hours have perished here. . .”  “me! come! my dazzled face. . .”  invisible  “i wish i knew that woman’s name. . .”  trying to forget  “i felt a funeral in my brain. . .”  “i meant to find her when i came. . .”  waiting  “a sickness of this world it most occasions. . .”  “superfluous were the sun. . .”  “so proud she was to die. . .”  farewell  “the dying need but little, dear. . .”  dead  “the soul should always stand ajar. . .”  “three weeks passed since i had seen her. . .  “i breathed enough to learn the trick. . .”  “i wonder if the sepulchre. . .”  joy in death  “if i may have it when it’s dead. . .”  “before the ice is in the pools. . .”  dying  “adrift! a little boat adrift!”  “there’s been a death in the opposite house. . .”  “we never know we go,—when we are going. . .”  the soul’s storm  “water is taught by thirst. . .”  thirst  “a clock stopped—not the mantel’s. . .”  charlotte brontë’s grave  “a toad can die of light. . .”  “far from love the heavenly father. . .”  sleeping  retrospect  eternity