She was a poet. Throughout her life she concealed her work. She bound her verses with her own hand. If you don't know the words, or her contributions to the American vernacular, you can read some samples here; please note, the dash seen in most of the poems here (-) is not the em dash (—) that appears in the printed versions of these poems, the use of which was an innovation of the poet to whom this page is dedicated.
708
I sometimes drop it, for a Quick —
The Thought to be alive -
Anonymous Delight to know -
And Madder - to conceive -
Consoles a Woe so Monstrous
That sis it tear all Day,
Without an instant's Respite -
'Twould look too far - to Die -
Delirium - diverts the Wretch
Fort Whom the Scaffold neighs -
The Hammock's Motion lulls the Heads
So close on Paradise -
A Reef - crawled easy from the Sea
Eats off the Brittle Line -
The Sailor doesn't know the Stroke -
Until He's past the Pain -
(c.1863)
208
The Rose did caper on her cheek -
Her Bodice rose and fell -
Her pretty speech - like drunken men -
Did stager pitiful -
Her fingers fumbled at her work -
Her needle would not go -
What ailed so smart a little Maid -
It puzzled me to know -
Till opposite - I spied a cheek
Than bore another Rose -
Just opposite - Another speech
That like the Drunkard goes -
A Vest that like her Bodice, danced -
To the immortal tune -
Till those two trpubled - little Clocks
Ticked softly into one.
(c.1860)
1149
I noticed People disappeared
When but a little child —
Supposed they visited remote
Or settled Regions wild —
Now know I — They both visited
And settled Regions wild
But did because they died
A Fact withheld the little child —
(c.1869)
258
There's a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons —
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes —
Heavenly Hurt, it gives us —
We can find no scar,
But internal difference,
Where the Meanings, are —
None may teach it — Any —
'Tis the Seal Despair —
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the Air —
When it comes, the Landscape listens —
Shadows — hold their breath —
When it goes, 'tis like the Distance
On the look of Death —
(c.1861)
1062
He scanned it - staggered -
Dropped the Loop
To Past or Period -
Caught helpless at a sense as if
His Mind were going blind -
Groped up, to see if God was there -
Groped backward at Himself
Caressed a Trigger absebtly
And wandered out of Life
(c. 1865)
1199
Are Friends Delight or Pain?
Could Bounty but remain
Riches were good -
But if they only stay
Ampler to fly away
Riches are sad.
(c. 1871)
435
Much Madness is divinest Sense -
To a discering Eye -
Much Sense - the starkest Madness -
'Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail -
Assent - and you are sane -
Demur - you're straightaway dangerous -
And handled with a Chian -
(c.1862)
