«“Nature” is what we see—  

The Hill—the Afternoon—  

Squirrel—Eclipse—the Bumble bee—  

Nay—Nature is Heaven—  

Nature is what we hear—  

The Bobolink—the Sea—  

Thunder—the Cricket—  

Nay—Nature is Harmony—  

Nature is what we know—  

Yet have no art to say—  

So impotent Our Wisdom is  

To her Simplicity.»

 

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«I’m nobody! Who are you?  

Are you nobody, too?  

Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!  

They’d banish us, you know.  

How dreary to be somebody!  

How public, like a frog  

To tell your name the livelong day  

To an admiring bog!»

 

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«Success is counted sweetest  

By those who ne’er succeed.»

 

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«Faith is a fine invention  

For gentlemen who see;  

But microscopes are prudent  

In an emergency!»

 

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«That Love is all there is,  

Is all we know of Love;  

It is enough, the freight should be  

Proportioned to the groove.»

 

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«For each ecstatic instant  

We must an anguish pay  

In keen and quivering ratio  

To the ecstasy.

 

For each beloved hour  

Sharp pittances of years,  

Bitter contested farthings  

And coffers heaped with tears.»