RETROSPECT

1 'Twas just this time, last year, I died.
2 I know I heard the corn,
3 When I was carried by the farms,--
4 It had the tassels on.

5 I thought how yellow it would look
6 When Richard went to mill;
7 And then I wanted to get out,
8 But something held my will.

9 I thought just how red apples wedged
10 The stubble's joints between;
11 And carts went stooping round the fields
12 To take the pumpkins in.

13 I wondered which would miss me least,
14 And when Thanksgiving came,
15 If Father'd multiply the plates
16 To make an even sum.

17 And if my stocking hung too high,
18 Would it blur the Christmas glee,
19 That not a Santa Claus could reach
20 The altitude of me?

21 But this sort grieved myself, and so
22 I thought how it would be
23 When just this time, some perfect year,
24 Themselves should come to me.