5
I have a Bird in spring
Which for myself doth sing—
The spring decoys.
And as the summer nears—

’Twas Crisis’—All the length had
That dull’—benumbing time
There is in Fever or Event’—
And now the Chance had come’—
The instant holding in its claw

387
The sweetest Heresy received
That Man and Woman know—
Each Other’s Convert—
Though the Faith accommodate but

To flee from memory
Had we the Wings
Many would fly
Inured to slower things
Birds with surprise

Immured in Heaven!
What a Cell!
Let every Bondage be,
Thou sweetest of the Universe,
Like that which ravished thee!

991
She sped as Petals of a Rose
Offended by the Wind—
A frail Aristocrat of Time
Indemnity to find—

Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.
It has no future but itself,

A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.
And then he drank a dew

Tell all the truth but tell it sla
Success in circuit lies,
Too bright for our infirm delight
The truth’s superb surprise;
As lightning to the children eased

A little East of Jordan,
Evangelists record,
A Gymnast and an Angel
Did wrestle long and hard—
Till morning touching mountain—