They perished in the seamless grass,
No eye could find the place;
But God on his repealless list
Can summon every face.

XVI 1

I have not told my garden yet,
Lest that should conquer me;

I have not quite the strength now
To break it to the bee.

And when her breath was done,

Took up her simple wardrobe

And started for the sun.

1 Copyright, 1891, by Little, Brown & Company

Her little figure at the gate
The angels must have spied,
Since I could never find her
Upon the mortal side.

XVIII 1

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 played,

Their lessons scarcely done;

We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;

The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day

I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward Eternity.

1 Copyright, 1890, by Little, Brown & Company

XIX 1

Have you got a brook in your little heart,

Where bashful flowers blow,

And blushing birds go down to drink,

And shadows tremble so?

And nobody knows, so still it flows,

That any brook is there;

And yet your little draught of life

Is daily drunken there.

Then look out for the little brook in March, When the rivers ever flow,

And the snow comes hurrying from the hills,
And the bridges often go.

And later, in August it may be,
When the meadows parching lie,

Beware, lest this little brook of life

Some burning noon go dry!

XX 1

I'll tell you how the sun rose, -
A ribbon at a time.

The steeples swam in amethyst,
The news like squirrels ran.

The hills untied their bonnets,

The bobolinks begun.

Then I said softly to myself,

"That must have been the Sun!

1

Copyright, 1890, by Little, Brown & Company

But has he set, I know not:
There seemed a purple stile
Which little yellow boys and girls
Were climbing all the while,

Till when they reached the other side,
A dominie in gray

Put gently up the evening bars,
And led the flock away.

OH, did you see him riding down,

1833-1896

And riding down, while all the town
Came out to see, came out to see,
And all the bells rang mad with glee?
Copyright, 1890, by Little, Brown & Company

Oh, did you hear those bells ring out,
The bells ring out, the people shout,
And did you hear that cheer on cheer
That over all the bells rang clear?

And did you see the waving flags,
The fluttering flags, the tattered flags,
Red, white, and blue, shot through and through,
Baptized with battle's deadly dew?

And did you hear the drums' gay beat,
The drums' gay beat, the bugles sweet,
The cymbals' clash, the cannons' crash,
That rent the sky with sound and flash?

And did you see me waiting there,
Just waiting there and watching there,
One little lass, amid the mass
That pressed to see the hero pass?

And did you see him smiling down,
And smiling down, as riding down
With slowest pace, with stately grace,
He caught the vision of a face, —

My face uplifted red and white,
Turned red and white with sheer delight
To meet the eyes, the smiling eyes,
Outflashing in their swift surprise?

Oh, did you see how swift it came,
How swift it came, like sudden flame,
That smile to me, to only me,
The little lass who blushed to see?