Short Poems

The Angel that presided o'er my birth
Said, "Little creature, formed of Joy and Mirth,
Go love without the help of any thing on earth.-3

Abstinence sows sand all over
The ruddy limbs and flaming hair,
But Desire Gratified
Plants fruits of life and beauty there.

Burra-Boo—Shirra Sha!
Macaulay was a trusty seër,
Barra Poota—Carra Woota!
When he saw me standing here.

Of the visages of things—And of piercing through to the accepted hells beneath;
Of ugliness—To me there is just as much in it as there is in beauty—And now the ugliness of human beings is acceptable to me;
Of detected persons—To me, detected persons are not, in any respect, worse than undetected persons—and are not in any respect worse than I am myself;
Of criminals—To me, any judge, or any juror, is equally criminal—and any reputable person is also—and the President is also.

No mischief worthier of our fear
In nature can be found,
Than friendship, in ostent sincere,
But hollow and unsound.
For lull'd into a dang'rous dream
We close infold a foe,
Who strikes, when most secure we seem,
Th'inevitable blow.

The rose that blushes rosy red,
She must hang her head;
The lily that blows spotless white,
She may stand upright.

The lily has an air,
And the snowdrop a grace,
And the sweetpea a way,
And the heartsease a face,—
Yet there's nothing like the rose
When she blows.

Around the man who seeks a noble end
Not angels but divinities attend.

Sweet Bridget blusht, & therewithall,
Fresh blossoms from her cheekes did fall.
I thought at first 'twas but a dream,
Till after I had handled them;
And smelt them, then they smelt to me,
As Blossomes of the Almond Tree.

To clense his eyes, Tom Brock makes much adoe,
But not his mouth (the fouler of the two.)
A clammie Reume makes loathsome both his eyes:
His mouth worse furr'd with oathes and blasphemies.