BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) 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 leisure too, For His Civility. We passed the School, where Children strove-- At Recess--in the Ring-- We passed the Fields of Grazing Grain-- We passed the Setting Sun-- Or rather--He passed Us-- The Dews grew 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 but a mound. Since then tis Centuries--yet each Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses Heads Were towards Eternity. LOCKSLEY HALL Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) Comrades, leave me here a little, while as yet t is early morn: Leave me here, and when you want me, sound upon the bugle- horn. T is the place, and all around it, as of old, the curlews call, Dreary gleams about the moorland flying over Locksley Hall; Locksley Hall, that in the distance overlooks the sandy tracts, And the hollow ocean-ridges roaring into cataracts. Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest, Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West. Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro the mellow shade, Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid. Here about the beach I wanderd, nourishing a youth sublime With the fairy tales of science, and the long result of Time; When the centuries behind me like a fruitful land reposed; When I clung to all the present for the promise that it closed: When I dipt into the future far as human eye could see; Saw the Vision of the world and all the wonder that would be.— In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robins breast; In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest; In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnishd dove; In the Spring a young mans fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. Then her cheek was pale and thinner than should be for one so young, And her eyes on all my motions with a mute observance hung. And I said, My cousin Amy, speak, and speak the truth to me, Trust me, cousin, all the current of my being sets to thee. On her pallid cheek and forehead came a colour and a light, As I have seen the rosy red flushing in the northern night. And she turnd—her bosom shaken with a sudden storm of sighs— All the spirit deeply dawning in the dark of hazel eyes— Saying, I have hid my feelings, fearing they should do me wrong; Saying, Dost thou love me, cousin? weeping, I have loved thee long. Love took up the glass of Time, and turnd it in his glowing hands; Every moment, lightly shaken, ran itself in golden sands. Love took up the harp of Life, and smote on all the chords with might; Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, passd in music out of sight. Many a morning on the moorland did we hear the copses ring, And her whisper throngd my pulses with the fulness of the Spring. Many an evening by the waters did we watch the stately ships, And our spirits rushd together at the touching of the lips. O my cousin, shallow-hearted! O my Amy, mine no more! O the dreary, dreary moorland! O the barren, barren shore! Falser than all fancy fathoms, falser than all songs have sung, Puppet to a fathers threat, and servile to a shrewish tongue! Is it well to wish thee happy?-- having known me—to decline On a range of lower feelings and a narrower heart than mine! Yet it shall be; thou shalt lower to his level day by day, What is fine within thee growing coarse to sympathize with clay. As the husband is, the wife is: thou art mated with a clown, And the grossness of his nature will have weight to drag thee down. He will hold thee, when his passion shall have spent its novel force, Something better than his dog, a little dearer than his horse. What is this? his eyes are heavy; think not they are glazed with wine. Go to him, it is thy duty, kiss him, take his hand in thine. It may be my lord is weary, that his brain is overwrought: Soothe him with thy finer fancies, touch him with thy lighter thought. He will answer to the purpose, easy things to understand— Better thou wert dead before me, tho I slew thee with my hand! Better thou and I were lying, hidden from the hearts disgrace, Rolld in one anothers arms, and silent in a last embrace. Cursed be the social wants that sin against the strength of youth! Cursed be the social lies that warp us from the living truth! Cursed be the sickly forms that err from honest Natures rule! Cursed be the gold that gilds the straitend forehead of the fool! Well—t is well that I should bluster!--Hadst thou less unworty proved— Would to God—for I had loved thee more than ever wife was loved. Am I mad, that I should cherish that which bears but bitter fruit? I will pluck it from my bosom, tho my heart be at the root. Never, tho my mortal summers to such length of years should come As the many-winterd crow that leads the clanging rookery home. Where is comfort? in division of the records of the mind? Can I part her from herself, and love her, as I knew her, kind? I remember one that perishd; sweetly did she speak and move; Such a one do I remember, whom to look at was to love. Can I think of her as dead, and love her for the love she bore? No—she never loved me truly; love is love for evermore. Comfort? comfort scornd of devils! this is truth the poet sings, That a sorrows crown of sorrow is remembering happier things. Drug thy memories, lest thou learn it, lest thy heart be put to proof, In the dead unhappy night, and when the rain is on the roof. Like a dog, he hunts in dreams, and thou art staring at the wall, Where the dying night-lamp flickers, and the shadows rise and fall. Then a hand shall pass before thee, pointing to his drunken sleep, To thy widowd marriage-pillows, to the tears that thou wilt weep. Thou shalt hear the Never, never, whisperd by the phantom years, And a song from out the distance in the ringing of thine ears; And an eye shall vex thee, looking ancient kindness on thy pain. Turn thee, turn thee on thy pillow; get thee to thy rest again. Nay, but Nature brings thee solace; for a tender voice will cry. T is a purer life than thine, a lip to drain thy trouble dry. Baby lips will laugh me down; my latest rival brings thee rest. Baby fingers, waxen touches, press me from the mothers breast. O, the child too clothes the father with a dearness not his due. Half is thine and half is his: it will be worthy of the two. O, I see thee old and formal, fitted to thy petty part, With a little hoard of maxims preaching down a daughters heart. They were dangerous guides the feelings—she herself was not exempt— Truly, she herself had sufferd— Perish in thy self-contempt! Overlive it—lower yet—be happy! wherefore should I care? I myself must mix with action, lest I wither by despair. What is that which I should turn to, lighting upon days like these? Every door is barrd with gold, and opens but to golden keys. Every gate is throngd with suitors, all the markets overflow. I have but an angry fancy; what is that which I should do?
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 12:04:04 +0000
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