Consciousness and Self-Knowledge

Much Madness is divinest Sense

Much Madness is divinest Sense -
To a discerning Eye -
Much Sense - the starkest Madness `
Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail -
Assent - and you are sane -
Demur - you`re straightaway dangerous -
And handled with a Chain -

Low at my problem bending

69

Low at my problem bending,
Another problem comes-
Larger than mine-Serener-
Involving statelier sums.


I check my busy pencil,
My figures file away.
Wherefore, my baffled fingers
They perplexity?

Knows how to forget!

433

Knows how to forget!
But could It teach it?
Easiest of Arts, they say
When one learn how


Dull Hearts have died
In the Acquisition
Sacrificed for Science
Is common, though, now-


I went to School
But was not wiser
Globe did not teach it
Nor Logarithm Show


"How to forget"!
Say-some-Philosopher!
Ah, to be erudite
Enough to know!


Is it in a Book?
So, I could buy it-
Is it like a Planet?
Telescopes would know-


If it be invention
It must have a Patent.
Rabbi of the Wise Book
Don't you know?

It might be lonelier

405

It might be lonelier
Without the LonelinessI'm
so accustomed to my Fate-
Perhaps the Other-Peace-

Would interrupt the Dark-
And crowd the little Room-
Too scant-by Cubits-to contain
The Sacrament-of Him-

I am not used to Hope-
It might intrude upon-
Its sweet parade-blaspheme the place-
Ordained to Suffering-

It might be easier
To fail-with Land in Sight-
Than gain-My Blue Peninsula-
To perish-of Delight-

I'm nobody! Who are you?

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us -- don't tell!
They'd banish -- you know!


How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog
To tell one's name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

I'm "wife"-I've finished that

199

I'm "wife"-I've finished that-
That other stateI'm
Czar-I'm "Woman" nowIt's
safer so-


How odd the Girl's life looks
Behind this soft Eclipse-
I think that Earth feels so
To folks in Heaven-now-


This being comfort-then
That other kind-was pain-
But why compare?
I'm "Wife"! Stop there!

If What we could-were what we would

407

If What we could-were what we wouldCriterion-
be small-
It is the Ultimate of Talk-
The Impotence to Tell-

Ideals are the Fairly Oil

983

Ideals are the Fairly Oil
With which we help the Wheel
But when the Vital Axle turns
The Eye rejects the Oil.

I went to heaven,--

I went to heaven,-'
T was a small town,
Lit with a ruby,
Lathed with down.
Stiller than the fields
At the full dew,
Beautiful as pictures
No man drew.
People like the moth,
Of mechlin, frames,
Duties of gossamer,
And eider names.
Almost contented
I could be
'Mong such unique
Society.

I was the slightest in the House

486

I was the slightest in the House-
I took the smallest Room-
At night, my little Lamp, and Book-
And one Geranium-

So stationed I could catch the Mint
That never ceased to fall-
And just my Basket-
Let me think-I'm sure-
That this was all-

I never spoke-unless addressed-
And then, 'twas brief and low-
I could not bear to live-aloud-
The Racket shamed me so-

And if it had not been so far-
And any one I knew
Were going-I had often thought
How noteless-I could die-

I tried to think a lonelier Thing

532

I tried to think a lonelier Thing
Than any I had seen-
Some Polar Expiation-An Omen in the Bone
Of Death's tremendous nearness-

I probed Retrieverless things
My Duplicate-to borrow-
A Haggard Comfort springs

From the belief that Somewhere-
Within the Clutch of Thought-
There dwells one other Creature
Of Heavenly Love-forgot-

I plucked at our Partition
As One should pry the Walls-
Between Himself-and Horror's Twin-
Within Opposing Cells-

I almost strove to clasp his Hand,
Such Luxury-it grew-
That as Myself-could pity Him-
Perhaps he-pitied me-

I tie my Hat—I crease my Shawl

443

I tie my Hat—I crease my Shawl—
Life's little duties do—precisely—
As the very least
Were infinite—to me—


I put new Blossoms in the Glass—
And throw the old—away—
I push a petal from my gown
That anchored there—I weigh
The time 'twill be till six o'clock
I have so much to do—
And yet—Existence—some way back—
Stopped—struck—my tickling—through—
We cannot put Ourself away
As a completed Man
Or Woman—When the Errand's done
We came to Flesh—upon—
There may be—Miles on Miles of Nought—
Of Action—sicker far—
To simulate—is stinging work—
To cover what we are
From Science—and from Surgery—
Too Telescopic Eyes
To bear on us unshaded—
For their—sake—not for Ours—
'Twould start them—
We—could tremble—
But since we got a Bomb—
And held it in our Bosom—
Nay—Hold it—it is calm—


Therefore—we do life's labor—
Though life's Reward—be done—
With scrupulous exactness—
To hold our Senses—on—

I saw no Way—The Heavens were stitched

378

I saw no Way—The Heavens were stitched—
I felt the Columns close—
The Earth reversed her Hemispheres—
I touched the Universe—


And back it slid—and I alone—
A Speck upon a Ball—
Went out upon Circumference—
Beyond the Dip of Bell—

I have a King, who does not speak

103

I have a King, who does not speakSo-
wondering-thro' the hours meek
I trudge the day away-
Half glad when it is night, and sleep,
If, haply, thro' a dream, to peep
In parlors, shut by day.


And if I do-when morning comes-
It is as if a hundred drums
Did round my pillow roll,
And shouts fill all my Childish sky,
And Bells keep saying "Victory"
From steeples in my soul!


And if I don't-the little Bird
Within the Orchard, is not heard,
And I omit to pray
"Father, thy will be done" today
For my will goes the other way,
And it were perjury!

I felt my life with both my hands

351

I felt my life with both my hands
To see if it was there-
I held my spirit to the Glass,
To prove it possibler-


I turned my Being round and round
And paused at every pound
To ask the Owner's name-
For doubt, that I should know the Sound-


I judged my features-jarred my hair-
I pushed my dimples by, and waited-
If they-twinkled back-
Conviction might, of me-


I told myself, "Take Courage, FriendThat-
was a former time-
But we might learn to like the Heaven,
As well as our Old Home!"

I felt a cleaving in my mind

I felt a cleaving in my mind
As if my brain had split;

I tried to match it, seam by seam,
But could not make them fit.

The thought behind I strove to join
Unto the thought before,

But sequence ravelled out of reach
Like balls upon a floor.

I cautious, scanned my little life

178

I cautious, scanned my little life-
I winnowed what would fade
From what would last till Heads like mine
Should be a-dreaming laid.


I put the latter in a Barn-
The former, blew away.
I went one winter morning
And lo - my priceless Hay


Was not upon the "Scaffold"-
Was not upon the "Beam"-
And from a thriving Farmer-
A Cynic, I became.


Whether a Thief did it-
Whether it was the wind-
Whether Deity's guiltless-
My business is, to find!


So I begin to ransack!
How is it Hearts, with Thee?
Art thou within the little Barn
Love provided Thee?

I am alive—I guess

470

I am alive—I guess—
The Branches on my Hand
Are full of Morning Glory—
And at my finger's end—


The Carmine—tingles warm—
And if I hold a Glass
Across my Mouth—it blurs it—
Physician's—proof of Breath—


I am alive—because
I am not in a Room—
The Parlor—Commonly—it is—
So Visitors may come—


And lean—and view it sidewise—
And add "How cold—it grew"—
And "Was it conscious—when it stepped
In Immortality?"


I am alive—because
I do not own a House—
Entitled to myself—precise—
And fitting no one else—


And marked my Girlhood's name—
So Visitors may know
Which Door is mine—and not

He fumbles at your spirit

He fumbles at your spirit
As players at the keys
Before they drop full music on;
He stuns you by degrees,

Prepares your brittle substance
For the ethereal blow,
By fainter hammers, further heard,
Then nearer, then so slow

Your breath has time to straighten,
Your brain to bubble cool, --
Deals one imperial thunderbolt
That scalps your naked soul.

Had I not This, or This, I said

904

Had I not This, or This, I said,
Appealing to Myself,
In moment of prosperityInadequate-
were Life


"Thou hast not Me, nor Me"-it said,
In Moment of Reverse"
And yet Thou art industrious-
No need-hadst Thou-of us"?


My need-was all I had-I said-
The need did not reduce-
Because the food-exterminate-
The hunger-does not cease-


But diligence-is sharper-
Proportioned to the Chance-
To feed upon the RetrogradeEnfeebles-
the Advance-

Funny—to be a Century

345

Funny—to be a Century—
And see the People—going by—
I—should die of the Oddity—
But then—I'm not so staid—as He—


He keeps His Secrets safely—very—
Were He to tell—extremely sorry
This Bashful Globe of Ours would be—
So dainty of Publicity—

Exclusion (The soul selects her own society)

The soul selects her own society,

Then shuts the door;

On her divine majority

Obtrude no more.

Unmoved, she notes the chariot's pausing

At her low gate;

Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling

Upon her mat.

I've known her from an ample nation

Choose one

Then close the valves of her attention

Like stone.

Elysium is as far as to

Elysium is as far as to
The very nearest Room
If in that Room a Friend await
Felicity or Doom--

What fortitude the Soul contains
That it can so endure
The accent of a coming Foot--
The opening of a Door--

Empty my Heart, of Thee

587

Empty my Heart, of Thee-
Its single Artery-
Begin, and leave Thee out-
Simply Extinction's Date-

Much Billow hath the Sea-
One Baltic-They-
Subtract Thyself, in play,
And not enough of me
Is left-to put away"
Myself" meanth Thee-

Erase the Root-no TreeThee-
then-no me-
The Heavens strippedEternity's
vast pocket, picked-