I cannot live with You --
It would be Life --
And Life is over there --
Behind the Shelf
The Sexton keeps the Key to --
Putting up
Our Life -- His Porcelain --
Like a Cup --
Discarded of the Housewife --
Quaint -- or Broke --
A newer Sevres pleases --
Old Ones crack --
I could not die -- with You --
For One must wait
To shut the Other's Gaze down --
You -- could not --
And I -- Could I stand by
And see You -- freeze --
Without my Right of Frost --
Death's privilege?
Nor could I rise -- with You --
Because Your Face
Would put out Jesus' --
That New Grace
Glow plain -- and foreign
On my homesick Eye --
Except that You than He
Shone closer by --
They'd judge Us -- How --
For You -- served Heaven -- You know,
Or sought to --
I could not --
Because You saturated Sight --
And I had no more Eyes
For sordid excellence
As Paradise
And were You lost, I would be --
Though My Name
Rang loudest
On the Heavenly fame --
And were You -- saved --
And I -- condemned to be
Where You were not --
That self -- were Hell to Me --
So We must meet apart --
You there -- I -- here --
With just the Door ajar
That Oceans are -- and Prayer --
And that White Sustenance --
Despair --
----------------------------
A clock stopped -- not the mantel's
Geneva's farthest skill
Can't put the puppet bowing
That just now dangled still.
An awe came on the trinket!
The figures hunched with pain,
Then quivered out of decimals
Into degreeless noon.
It will not stir for doctors,
This pendulum of snow;
The shopman importunes it,
While cool, concernless No
Nods from the gilded pointers,
Nods from seconds slim,
Decades of arrogance between
The dial life and him. ----------------------------
I cannot live with You --
It would be Life --
And Life is over there --
Behind the Shelf
The Sexton keeps the Key to --
Putting up
Our Life -- His Porcelain --
Like a Cup --
Discarded of the Housewife --
Quaint -- or Broke --
A newer Sevres pleases --
Old Ones crack --
I could not die -- with You --
For One must wait
To shut the Other's Gaze down --
You -- could not --
And I -- Could I stand by
And see You -- freeze --
Without my Right of Frost --
Death's privilege?
Nor could I rise -- with You --
Because Your Face
Would put out Jesus' --
That New Grace
Glow plain -- and foreign
On my homesick Eye --
Except that You than He
Shone closer by --
They'd judge Us -- How --
For You -- served Heaven -- You know,
Or sought to --
I could not --
Because You saturated Sight --
And I had no more Eyes
For sordid excellence
As Paradise
And were You lost, I would be --
Though My Name
Rang loudest
On the Heavenly fame --
And were You -- saved --
And I -- condemned to be
Where You were not --
That self -- were Hell to Me --
So We must meet apart --
You there -- I -- here --
With just the Door ajar
That Oceans are -- and Prayer --
And that White Sustenance --
Despair --
----------------------------
I cannot live with You -- It would be Life -- And Life is over there -- Behind the Shelf The Sexton keeps the Key to -- Putting up Our Life -- His Porcelain -- Like a Cup -- Discarded of the Housewife -- Quaint -- or Broke -- A newer Sevres pleases -- Old Ones crack -- I could not die -- with You -- For One must wait To shut the Other's Gaze down -- You -- could not -- And I -- Could I stand by And see You -- freeze -- Without my Right of Frost -- Death's privilege? Nor could I rise -- with You -- Because Your Face Would put out Jesus' -- That New Grace Glow plain -- and foreign On my homesick Eye -- Except that You than He Shone closer by -- They'd judge Us -- How -- For You -- served Heaven -- You know, Or sought to -- I could not -- Because You saturated Sight -- And I had no more Eyes For sordid excellence As Paradise And were You lost, I would be -- Though My Name Rang loudest On the Heavenly fame -- And were You -- saved -- And I -- condemned to be Where You were not -- That self -- were Hell to Me -- So We must meet apart -- You there -- I -- here -- With just the Door ajar That Oceans are -- and Prayer -- And that White Sustenance -- Despair --
----------------------------
bork! Snorf!
----------------------------
A door just opened on a street--
I, lost, was passing by--
An instant's width of warmth disclosed
And wealth, and company.
The door as sudden shut, and I,
I, lost, was passing by,--
Lost doubly, but by contrast most,
Enlightening misery.
----------------------------
A clock stopped -- not the mantel's
Geneva's farthest skill
Can't put the puppet bowing
That just now dangled still.
An awe came on the trinket!
The figures hunched with pain,
Then quivered out of decimals
Into degreeless noon.
It will not stir for doctors,
This pendulum of snow;
The shopman importunes it,
While cool, concernless No
Nods from the gilded pointers,
Nods from seconds slim,
Decades of arrogance between
The dial life and him.
----------------------------
A clock stopped -- not the mantel's Geneva's farthest skill Can't put the puppet bowing That just now dangled still. An awe came on the trinket! The figures hunched with pain, Then quivered out of decimals Into degreeless noon. It will not stir for doctors, This pendulum of snow; The shopman importunes it, While cool, concernless No Nods from the gilded pointers, Nods from seconds slim, Decades of arrogance between The dial life and him.
----------------------------