Emily Dickinson

I never hear the word “escape”
Without a quicker blood,
A sudden expectation
A flying attitude!

I never hear of prisons broad
By soldiers battered down,
But I tug childish at my bars
Only to fail again!
-Emily Dickinson

I never lost as much but twice,
And that was in the sod.
Twice have I stood a beggar
Before the door of God!

Angels — twice descending
Reimbursed my store —
Burglar! Banker — Father!
I am poor once more!
-Emily Dickinson

I never saw a Moor —
I never saw the Sea —
Yet know I how the Heather looks
And what a Billow be.

I never spoke with God
Nor visited in Heaven —
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the Checks were given —
-Emily Dickinson

I never told the buried gold
Upon the hill — that lies —
I saw the sun — his plunder done
Crouch low to guard his prize.

He stood as near
As stood you here —
A pace had been between —
Did but a snake bisect the brake
My life had forfeit been.

That was a wondrous booty —
I hope ’twas honest gained.
Those were the fairest ingots
That ever kissed the spade!

Whether to keep the secret —
Whether to

I noticed People disappeared
When but a little child —
Supposed they visited remote
Or settled Regions wild —
But did because they died
A Fact withheld the little child —
-Emily Dickinson

I often passed the village
When going home from school —
And wondered what they did there —
And why it was so still —

I did not know the year then —
In which my call would come —
Earlier, by the Dial,
Than the rest have gone.

It’s stiller than the sundown.
It’s cooler than the dawn —
The Daisies dare to come here —
And birds can flutter down —

So when you are tired —
Or perplexed —

I pay — in Satin Cash —
You did not state — your price —
A Petal, for a Paragraph
It near as I can guess —
-Emily Dickinson

I play at Riches — to appease
The Clamoring for Gold —
It kept me from a Thief, I think,
For often, overbold

With Want, and Opportunity —
I could have done a Sin
And been Myself that easy Thing
An independent Man —

But often as my lot displays
Too hungry to be borne
I deem Myself what I would be —
And novel Comforting

My Poverty and I derive —
We question if the Man —
Who own — Esteem the

I prayed, at first, a little Girl,
Because they told me to —
But stopped, when qualified to guess
How prayer would feel — to me —

If I believed God looked around,
Each time my Childish eye
Fixed full, and steady, on his own
In Childish honesty —

And told him what I’d like, today,
And parts of his far plan
That baffled me —
The mingled side
Of his Divinity —

And often since, in Danger,
I count the force ‘twould

I read my sentence — steadily —
Reviewed it with my eyes,
To see that I made no mistake
In its extremest clause —
The Date, and manner, of the shame —
And then the Pious Form
That “God have mercy” on the Soul
The Jury voted Him —
I made my soul familiar — with her extremity —
That at the last, it should not be a novel Agony —
But she, and Death, acquainted —
Meet tranquilly, as

I reason, Earth is short —
And Anguish — absolute —
And many hurt,
But, what of that?

I reason, we could die —
The best Vitality
Cannot excel Decay,
But, what of that?

I reason, that in Heaven —
Somehow, it will be even —
Some new Equation, given —
But, what of that?
-Emily Dickinson

I reckon — when I count it all —
First — Poets — Then the Sun —
Then Summer — Then the Heaven of God —
And then — the List is done —

But, looking back — the First so seems
To Comprehend the Whole —
The Others look a needless Show —
So I write — Poets — All —

Their Summer — lasts a Solid Year —
They can afford a Sun
The East — would

I robbed the Woods —
The trusting Woods.
The unsuspecting Trees
Brought out their Burs and mosses
My fantasy to please.
I scanned their trinkets curious — I grasped — I bore away —
What will the solemn Hemlock —
What will the Oak tree say?
-Emily Dickinson

I saw no Way — The Heavens were stitched —
I felt the Columns close —
The Earth reversed her Hemispheres —
I touched the Universe —

And back it slid — and I alone —
A Speck upon a Ball —
Went out upon Circumference —
Beyond the Dip of Bell —
-Emily Dickinson

I saw that the Flake was on it
But plotted with Time to dispute —
“Unchanged” I urged with a candor
That cost me my honest Heart —

But “you” — she returned with valor
Sagacious of my mistake
“Have altered — Accept the pillage
For the progress’ sake” —
-Emily Dickinson

I saw the wind within her
I knew it blew for me –
But she must buy my shelter
I asked Humility
-Emily Dickinson

I see thee better — in the Dark —
I do not need a Light —
The Love of Thee — a Prism be —
Excelling Violet —

I see thee better for the Years
That hunch themselves between —
The Miner’s Lamp — sufficient be —
To nullify the Mine —

And in the Grave — I see Thee best —
Its little Panels be
Aglow — All ruddy — with the Light
I held so high, for Thee

I see thee clearer for the Grave
That took thy face between
No Mirror could illumine thee
Like that impassive stone –

I know thee better for the Act
That made thee first unknown
The stature of the empty nest
Attests the Bird that’s gone.
-Emily Dickinson

I send Two Sunsets —
Day and I — in competition ran —
I finished Two — and several Stars —
While He — was making One —

His own was ampler — but as I
Was saying to a friend —
Mine — is the more convenient
To Carry in the Hand —
-Emily Dickinson

I send you a decrepit flower
That nature sent to me
At parting – she was going south
And I designed to stay –

Her motive for the souvenir
If sentiment for me
Or circumstances prudential
Withheld invincibly –
-Emily Dickinson

I shall keep singing!
Birds will pass me
On their way to Yellower Climes —
Each — with a Robin’s expectation —
I — with my Redbreast —
And my Rhymes —

Late — when I take my place in summer —
But — I shall bring a fuller tune —
Vespers — are sweeter than Matins — Signor —
Morning — only the seed of Noon —

I shall know why — when Time is over —
And I have ceased to wonder why —
Christ will explain each separate anguish
In the fair schoolroom of the sky —

He will tell me what “Peter” promised —
And I — for wonder at his woe —
I shall forget the drop of Anguish
That scalds me now — that scalds me now!

I shall not murmur if at last
The ones I loved below
Permission have to understand
For what I shunned them so —
Divulging it would rest my Heart
But it would ravage theirs —
Why, Katie, Treason has a Voice —
But mine — dispels — in Tears.
-Emily Dickinson

I should have been too glad, I see —
Too lifted — for the scant degree
Of Life’s penurious Round —
My little Circuit would have shamed
This new Circumference — have blamed —
The homelier time behind.

I should have been too saved — I see —
Too rescued — Fear too dim to me
That I could spell the Prayer
I knew so perfect — yesterday —
That Scalding One — Sabachthani —
Recited fluent — here —

Earth