TO DEATH.
_________
I know thou lurkest somewhere down the way,
Specter, whom all men seek though all men dread;
In some safe nook beside the path I tread__
Thou sittest, grim, and day by weary day,
When shadows' lengthen, "Surely," thou dost say,
"He comes at eve;", at eve, unvisited,
"To-night he comes;" and when the night is fled,
"And yet he comes, nor will he long delay."
Yea, Death, I come. But thou shalt not affright
"The forward fall of my unfaltering feet,
Nor flutter the even coming of my breath.
Not at the last as strangers shall we meet;
On hopeless ways, no helpful star in sight,
I have already faced and proved thee, Death.
TO KANSAS.
______
NOT for thy outward charms of form and face,
Careful to leave no feature unexpressed,
As if for beauty's sake we loved thee best,
We bring thee praise; nor for thy pride of race,
Nor for thy wealth that waxeth great apace;
Nor will we vaunt, with low and swinish zest,
The milky richness of thy mother-breast,
Like unweaned babes that know no higher grace.
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