LIFE
XLI
THE soul unto itself
Is an imperial friend,—
Or the most agonizing spy
An enemy could send.
Is an imperial friend,—
Or the most agonizing spy
An enemy could send.
Secure against its own,
No treason it can fear;
Itself its sovereign, of itself
The soul should stand in awe.
No treason it can fear;
Itself its sovereign, of itself
The soul should stand in awe.
XLII
SURGEONS must be very careful
When they take the knife!
Underneath their fine incisions
Stirs the culprit,—Life!
When they take the knife!
Underneath their fine incisions
Stirs the culprit,—Life!
XLIII
I LIKE to see it lap the miles,
And lick the valleys up,
And stop to feed itself at tanks;
And then, prodigious, step
And lick the valleys up,
And stop to feed itself at tanks;
And then, prodigious, step
Around a pile of mountains,
And, supercilious, peer
In shanties by the sides of roads;
And then a quarry pare
And, supercilious, peer
In shanties by the sides of roads;
And then a quarry pare
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