【一】

Hope is the thing with feathers (314)


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.



【二】

Because I could not stop for Death (479)


Because I could not stop for Death —

He kindly stopped for me —

The Carriage held but just Ourselves —

And Immortality.


We slowly drove — He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility —


We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess — in the Ring —

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain —

We passed the Setting Sun —


Or rather — He passed Us —

The Dews drew quivering and chill —

For only Gossamer, my Gown —

My Tippet — only Tulle —


We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground —

The Roof was scarcely visible —

The Cornice — in the Ground —


Since then — 'tis Centuries — and yet

Feels shorter than the Day

I first surmised the Horses' Heads

Were toward Eternity —



【三】

I'm Nobody! Who are you? (288)


I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you — Nobody — too?

Then there's a pair of us!

Don't tell! they'd advertise — you know!


How dreary — to be — Somebody!

How public — like a Frog —

To tell one's name — the livelong June —

To an admiring Bog!



【四】

I dwell in Possibility (657)


I dwell in Possibility —

A fairer House than Prose —

More numerous of Windows —

Superior — for Doors —


Of Chambers as the Cedars —

Impregnable of eye —

And for an everlasting Roof

The Gambrels of the Sky —


Of Visitors — the fairest —

For Occupation — This —

The spreading wide my narrow Hands

To gather Paradise —



【五】

A Bird came down the Walk (328)


A Bird came down the Walk —

He did not know I saw —

He bit an Angleworm in halves

And ate the fellow, raw,


And then he drank a Dew

From a convenient Grass —

And then hopped sidewise to the Wall

To let a Beetle pass —


He glanced with rapid eyes

That hurried all around —

They looked like frightened Beads, I thought —

He stirred his Velvet Head


Like one in danger, Cautious,

I offered him a Crumb

And he unrolled his feathers

And rowed him softer home —


Than Oars divide the Ocean,

Too silver for a seam —

Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon

Leap, plashless as they swim.



【六】

There is another Sky (2)


There is another Sky,

Ever serene and fair,

And there is another Sunshine,

Though it be darkness there —


Never mind faded Forests, Austin,

Never mind silent fields —

Here is a little forest —

Whose leaf is ever green!


Here is a brighter garden,

Where not a frost has been —

In its unfading flowers

I hear the bright Bee hum:


Prithee, my Brother,

Into my Garden come!