To Mrs. J.G. Holland
From ED

March 1884

When I tell my sweet Mrs. Holland that I have lost another friend, she will not wonder I do not write, but that I raise my Heart to a dropping syllable - Dear Mr Lord has left us - After a brief unconsciousness, a Sleep that ended with a smile, so his Nieces tell us, he hastened away, "seen," we trust, "of Angels" - "Who knows that secret deep" - "Alas, not I -"

Forgive the Tears that fell for few, but that few too many, for was not each a World?

Your last dear words seemed stronger, and smiling in the feeling that you were to be, this latest sorrow came - I hope your own are with you, and may not be taken - I hope there is no Dart advancing or in store -

Quite empty, quite at rest,
The Robin locks her Nest, and tries her wings.
She does not know a Route
But puts her Craft about
For rumored Springs -
She does not ask for Noon -
She does not ask for Boon,
Crumbless and homeless, of but one request -
The Birds she lost -

Later -

Vinnie described it all - The going up to take Medicine and forgetting to return - How many times I have taken that very Medicine myself, with lasting benefit! The Jelly and the pink Cheek, the little clutchings at her frame, to make the grace secure, that had too many Wings - Vinnie omitted nothing, and I followed her around, never hearing enough of that mysterious interview, for was it not a lips from the irrevocable?

Within that little Hive
Such Hints of Honey lay
As made Reality a Dream
And Dreams, Reality -