LXXVI

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.