It sifts from Leaden Sieves — Volcano Ruins

It sifts from Leaden Sieves－¹
It powders all the Wood.
It fills with Alabaster Wool
The Wrinkles of the Road－

It makes an Even Face ⁵
Of Mountain, and of Plain－
Unbroken Forehead from the East
Unto the East again－

It reaches to the Fence－⁹
It wraps it Rail by Rail
Till it is lost in Fleeces－
It deals Celestial Vail

To Stump, and Stack－and Stem－¹³
A Summer's empty Room－
Acres of Joints, where Harvests were,
Recordless, but for them－

It Ruffles Wrists of Posts ¹⁷
As Ankles of a Queen－
Then stills its Artisans－like Ghosts－
Denying they have been－

(F.291/J.311)

[1-16] powders, Even:: scene of snow and volcanic ash can be alike; however, the use of Leaden and Summer are suspicious.
[17-19] Ruffles, Ghosts:: description of the ruins under volcanic ash.
[17] Posts:: guards. "Pompeii . . . Barracks of the Troop . . . A large number of skeletons were found here." ─ American Travellers' Guide (1862) Ruffles:: folds, wrinkles. Wrists of Posts:: guards' wrists folded on the ground as the queen's ankles.
[18] Queen:: the statue of a goddess; Diana in House of Adonis or the Temple of Venus in Pompeii.
[19] stills:: molds, solidifies with the volcanic ash. its Artisans:: handicrafts men who built the statue. like Ghosts:: the ash killed and molded handicrafts men.
[20] Denying they have been:: rejecting their existence in Pompeii.

Pompeii . . . House of Adonis, also named Diana, and lastly Queen Caroline.－The derivation of the names are as follows: 1st, from the painting of Venus and Adonis; 2d, from a marble statue of the goddess found in one of the rooms; and the third in memory of the wife of Murat. ─ American Travellers' Guide (1862) by William Pembroke Fetridge

In the autumn of 1822 I saw Pompeii under very interesting circumstances. It was a few days after an eruption of Vesuvius which I bad witnessed, and which was considered by far the grandest eruption of recent times. From Portici, our road was coated with lapilla or pumice-stone, and a fine, impalpable powder, of a palish gray hue, that had been discharged from the mountain, round whose base we were winding. In many places this coating was more than a foot deep, but it was pretty equally spread, not accumulating in any particular spot As we drove into Pompeii our carriage wheels crushed this matter, which contained the principal components of what had buried the city: it was lodged on the edges of the houses' walls, and on their roofs, (where the Neapolitan government had furnished them with any;) it lay inches thick on the tops of the pillars and truncated columns of the ancient temples; it covered all the floors of the houses that had no roofs, and concealed the mosaics. In the amphitheatre, where we sat down to refresh ourselves, we were obliged to make the guides clear it away with shovels－it was every where. Looking from the upper walls of the amphitheatre, we saw the whole country covered with it－trees and all were coated with the pale-gray plaster, nor did it disappear for many months after. ─ The People's Magazine, Volume 1 (1834).