Hunger

I had been hungry all the years;
My noon had come, to dine;
I, trembling, drew the table near,
And touched the curious wine.
'T was this on tables I had seen,
When turning, hungry, lone,
I looked in windows, for the wealth
I could not hope to own.
I did not know the ample bread,
'T was so unlike the crumb
The birds and I had often shared
In Nature's dining-room.
The plenty hurt me, 't was so new,--
Myself felt ill and odd,
As berry of a mountain bush
Transplanted to the road.
Nor was I hungry; so I found
That hunger was a way
Of persons outside windows,
The entering takes away.

If I have stopped one heart from breaking, I have not lived in vain.

I fancy you very often descending to the schoolroom with a plump Binomial Theorem struggling in your hand which you must dissect and exhibit to your incomprehending ones...

Why did you go away and not come to see me? I felt so sure you would come, because you promised me, that I watched and waited for you, and bestowed a tear or two upon my absentee. How very sad to have a confiding nature, one's hopes and feelings are quite at the mercy of all who come along; and how very desirable to be a stolid individual, whose hopes and aspirations are safe in one's waistcoat pocket, and that a packet indeed, and one not to be picked!

The unknown is the largest need of the intellect.

Say, in a long time; that will be nearer. Some time is no time.

If I ask to much, you could please refuse. Shortness to live has made me bold.

How do most people live without any thoughts? There are many people in the world,--you must have noticed them in the street,--How do they live? How do they get the strength to put their clothes on in the morning?

They say that "home is where the heart is." I think it is where the house is, and the adjacent buildings.

I had rather be loved than to be called a king in earth, or a lord in Heaven.

My friends are my "estate." Forgive me then the avarice to hoard them! They tell me those were poor early, have different views of gold. I dont know how that is. God is not so wary as we, else he would give us no friends, lest we forget him! The Charms of the Heaven in the bush are superceded I fear, by the Heaven in the hand, occasionally.