Crisis is a Hair 1
Toward which the forces creep
Past which forces retrograde
If it come in sleep
To suspend the Breath 5
Is the most we can
Ignorant is it Life or Death
Nicely balancing.
Let an instant push 9
Or an Atom press
Or a Circle hesitate
In Circumference
It－may jolt the Hand 13
That adjusts the Hair
That secures Eternity
From presenting－Here－
Toward which the forces creep
Past which forces retrograde
If it come in sleep
To suspend the Breath 5
Is the most we can
Ignorant is it Life or Death
Nicely balancing.
Let an instant push 9
Or an Atom press
Or a Circle hesitate
In Circumference
It－may jolt the Hand 13
That adjusts the Hair
That secures Eternity
From presenting－Here－
(F.1067/J.889)
[1] Hair:: a thin rope.
[2] creep:: to walk slowly.
[7] Life or Death:: a dangerous show.
[8, 11] balancing, circle:: a hint on tight-rope walking, or wire-walking.
the Crystal Palace each day gathered about twenty thousand people . . . M. Blondin's tight-rope dancing is superior and more worth seeing than his tight-rope walking, albeit in this last there is the charming chance of seeing him fall off and break his neck. ─ Punch (1861)