A bone has obligations,
  A being has the same;
A marrowless assembly
  Is culpabler than shame.

But how shall finished creatures
  A function fresh obtain? —­
Old Nicodemus’ phantom
  Confronting us again!

XLV.

The past.

The past is such a curious creature,
  To look her in the face
A transport may reward us,
  Or a disgrace.

Unarmed if any meet her,
  I charge him, fly! 
Her rusty ammunition
  Might yet reply!

XLVI.

To help our bleaker parts
  Salubrious hours are given,
Which if they do not fit for earth
  Drill silently for heaven.

XLVII.

What soft, cherubic creatures
  These gentlewomen are! 
One would as soon assault a plush
  Or violate a star.

Such dimity convictions,
  A horror so refined
Of freckled human nature,
  Of Deity ashamed, —­

It’s such a common glory,
  A fisherman’s degree! 
Redemption, brittle lady,
  Be so, ashamed of thee.

XLVIII.

Desire.

Who never wanted, —­ maddest joy
  Remains to him unknown: 
The banquet of abstemiousness
  Surpasses that of wine.

Within its hope, though yet ungrasped
  Desire’s perfect goal,
No nearer, lest reality
  Should disenthrall thy soul.

XLIX.

Philosophy.

It might be easier
  To fail with land in sight,
Than gain my blue peninsula
  To perish of delight.

L.

Power.

You cannot put a fire out;
  A thing that can ignite
Can go, itself, without a fan
  Upon the slowest night.

You cannot fold a flood
  And put it in a drawer, —­
Because the winds would find it out,
  And tell your cedar floor.

LI.

A modest lot, a fame petite,
  A brief campaign of sting and sweet
  Is plenty!  Is enough! 
A sailor’s business is the shore,
  A soldier’s —­ balls.  Who asketh more
Must seek the neighboring life!

LII.

Is bliss, then, such abyss
I must not put my foot amiss
For fear I spoil my shoe?

I’d rather suit my foot
Than save my boot,
For yet to buy another pair
Is possible
At any fair.

But bliss is sold just once;
The patent lost
None buy it any more.

LIII.

Experience.

I stepped from plank to plank
  So slow and cautiously;
The stars about my head I felt,
  About my feet the sea.