“You cannot put a fire out!A thing that can ignite can go itself-without a flame-E'en through the darkest night!”

“You cannot fold a flood and put it in a drawer, because the winds would find it out and tell your cedar floor.”

“Till it has loved, no man or woman can become itself.”

“I ASKED no other thing, No other was denied. I offered Being for it; The mighty merchant smiled. Brazil? He twirled a button, Without a glance my way: “But, madam, is there nothing else That we can show to-day?”

“It was not death, for I stood up,And all the dead lie down;It was not night, for all the bellsPut out their tongues, for noon.It was not frost, for on my fleshI felt siroccos crawl,Nor fire, for just my marble feetCould keep a chancel cool.And yet it tasted like them all;The figures I have seenSet orderly, for burial,Reminded me of mine,As if my life were shavenAnd fitted to a frame,And could not breathe without a key;And I was like midnight, some,When everything that ticked has stopped,And space stares, all around,Or grisly frosts, first autumn morns,Repeal the beating ground.But most like chaos,--stopless, cool,Without a chance or spar,--Or even a report of landTo justify despair.”

“Pain - has an Element of BlankIt cannot recollectWhen it begun - or if there werea time when it was not - It has no Future - but itself - Its Infinite containIts Past - enlightened to perceiveNew Periods - of Pain.”

“How do most people live without any thought? There are many people in the world,--you must have noticed them in the street,--how do they live? How do they get strength to put on their clothes in the morning?”