'Twas warm－at first－like Us－1
Until there crept upon
A Chill－like frost upon a Glass－
Till all the scene－be gone.
The Forehead copied Stone－5
The Fingers grew too cold
To ache－and like a Skater's Brook－
The busy eyes－congealed－
It straightened－that was all－9
It crowded Cold to Cold－
It multiplied indifference－
As Pride were all it could－
And even when with Cords－13
'Twas lowered, like a Weight－
It made no Signal, nor demurred,
But dropped like Adamant.
Until there crept upon
A Chill－like frost upon a Glass－
Till all the scene－be gone.
The Forehead copied Stone－5
The Fingers grew too cold
To ache－and like a Skater's Brook－
The busy eyes－congealed－
It straightened－that was all－9
It crowded Cold to Cold－
It multiplied indifference－
As Pride were all it could－
And even when with Cords－13
'Twas lowered, like a Weight－
It made no Signal, nor demurred,
But dropped like Adamant.
(F.614/J.519)
[1] It:: a glass snail.
[2] crept:: a hint on how snail moved.
[3] Glass:: a hint on glass-snail, a snail of the genus Vitrina, having a thin translucent shell (OED 16).
[6] Fingers:: tentacles.
[8] busy eyes:: snail's squirming tentacles make its eyes (in the tentacles) look busy.
[13] Cord:: a structure in the animal body resembling a cord (OED 2).
[14] like a Weight:: snail's shell looks like a weight.
Glass-snail. Shell imperforate, very thin, depressed; spire short, last whirl large; aperture large, lunate of rounded, columellar margin slightly infected, peristome often membranous. ─ A Manual of the Mollusca (1854)
