I meant to have but modest needs -
Such as Content - and Heaven -
Within my income - these could lie
And Life and I - keep even -
But since the last - included both -
It would suffice my Prayer
But just for One - to stipulate -
And Grace would grant the Pair -
And so - upon this wise - I prayed -
Great Spirit - Give to me
A Heaven not so large as Your's,
But large enough - for me -
A Smile suffused Jehovah's face -
The Cherubim - withdrew -
Grave Saints stole out to look at me -
And showed their dimples - too -
I left the Place - with all my might -
I threw my Prayer away -
The Quiet Ages picked it up -
And Judgment - twinkled - too -
That one so honest - be extant -
It take the Tale for true -
That "Whatsoever Ye shall ask -
Itself be given You" -
But I, grown shrewder - scan the Skies
With a suspicious Air -
As Children - swindled for the first
All Swindlers - be - infer.
Emily Dickinson
Musicians wrestle everywhere -
All day - among the crowded air
I hear the silver strife -
And - waking - long before the morn -
Such transport breaks upon the town
I think it that "New life"...
No Notice gave She, but a Change -
No Message, but a Sigh -
For Whom, the Time did not suffice
That She should specify.
She was not warm, though Summer shone
Nor scrupulous of cold
Though Rime by Rime...
Within my Garden, rides a Bird
Upon a single Wheel -
Whose spokes a dizzy Music make
As 'twere a travelling Mill -
He never stops, but slackens
Above the Ripest Rose -
Partakes without alighting
And p...