Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924. |
Part Two: Nature
XIII
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| ONE of the ones that Midas touched, | |
| Who failed to touch us all, | |
| Was that confiding prodigal, | |
| The blissful oriole. | |
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| So drunk, he disavows it | 5 |
| With badinage divine; | |
| So dazzling, we mistake him | |
| For an alighting mine. | |
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| A pleader, a dissembler, | |
| An epicure, a thief,— | 10 |
| Betimes an oratorio, | |
| An ecstasy in chief; | |
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| The Jesuit of orchards, | |
| He cheats as he enchants | |
| Of an entire attar | 15 |
| For his decamping wants. | |
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| The splendor of a Burmah, | |
| The meteor of birds, | |
| Departing like a pageant | |
| Of ballads and of bards. | 20 |
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| I never thought that Jason sought | |
| For any golden fleece; | |
| But then I am a rural man, | |
| With thoughts that make for peace. | |
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| But if there were a Jason, | 25 |
| Tradition suffer me | |
| Behold his lost emolument | |
| Upon the apple-tree. | |
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