Emily Dickinson

All the letters I can write
Are not fair as this —
Syllables of Velvet —
Sentences of Plush,
Depths of Ruby, undrained,
Hid, Lip, for Thee —
Play it were a Humming Bird —
And just sipped — me —
-Emily Dickinson

All these my banners be.
I sow my pageantry
In May —
It rises train by train —
Then sleeps in state again —
My chancel — all the plain
Today.

To lose — if one can find again —
To miss — if one shall meet —
The Burglar cannot rob — then —
The Broker cannot cheat.
So build the hillocks gaily
Thou little spade of mine
Leaving nooks for Daisy
And for Columbine —
You and I the secret
Of the Crocus

All things swept sole away
This — is immensity —
-Emily Dickinson

Alone, I cannot be —
For Hosts — do visit me —
Recordless Company —
Who baffle Key —

They have no Robes, nor Names —
No Almanacs — nor Climes —
But general Homes
Like Gnomes —

Their Coming, may be known
By Couriers within —
Their going — is not —
For they’ve never gone —
-Emily Dickinson

Alone and in a Circumstance
Reluctant to be told
A spider on my reticence
Assiduously crawled

And so much more at Home than I
Immediately grew
I felt myself a visitor
And hurriedly withdrew

Revisiting my late abode
With articles of claim
I found it quietly assumed
As a Gymnasium
Where Tax asleep and Title off
The inmates of the Air
Perpetual presumption took
As each were special Heir —
If any strike me on the street
I can return the Blow —

If any take my

Alter! When the Hills do —
Falter! When the Sun
Question if His Glory
Be the Perfect One —

Surfeit! When the Daffodil
Doth of the Dew —
Even as Herself — Sir —
I will — of You –
-Emily Dickinson

Although I put away his life —
An Ornament too grand
For Forehead low as mine, to wear,
This might have been the Hand

That sowed the flower, he preferred —
Or smoothed a homely pain,
Or pushed the pebble from his path —
Or played his chosen tune —

On Lute the least — the latest —
But just his Ear could know
That whatsoe’er delighted it,
I never would let go —

The foot to bear his errand —
A

Always Mine!
No more Vacation!
Term of Light this Day begun!
Failless as the fair rotation
Of the Seasons and the Sun.

Old the Grace, but new the Subjects —
Old, indeed, the East,
Yet upon His Purple Programme
Every Dawn, is first.
-Emily Dickinson

Ambition cannot find him.
Affection doesn’t know
How many leagues of nowhere
Lie between them now.

Yesterday, undistinguished!
Eminent Today
For our mutual hone, Immortality!
-Emily Dickinson

Ample make this Bed —
Make this Bed with Awe —
In it wait till Judgment break
Excellent and Fair.

Be its Mattress straight —
Be its Pillow round —
Let no Sunrise’ yellow noise
Interrupt this Ground –
-Emily Dickinson

An Antiquated Tree
Is cherished of the Crow
Because that Junior Foliage is disrespectful now
To venerable Birds
Whose Corporation Coat
Would decorate Oblivion’s
Remotest Consulate.
-Emily Dickinson

An Hour is a Sea
Between a few, and me —
With them would Harbor be –
-Emily Dickinson

An altered look about the hills —
A Tyrian light the village fills —
A wider sunrise in the morn —
A deeper twilight on the lawn —
A print of a vermillion foot —
A purple finger on the slope —
A flippant fly upon the pane —
A spider at his trade again —
An added strut in Chanticleer —
A flower expected everywhere —
An axe shrill singing in the woods —
Fern odors on untravelled roads

An antiquated Grace
Becomes that cherished Face
As well as prime
Enjoining us to part
We and our pouting Heart
Good friends with time
-Emily Dickinson

An honest Tear
Is durabler than Bronze —
This Cenotaph
May each that dies —

Reared by itself —
No Deputy suffice —
Gratitude bears
When Obelisk decays
-Emily Dickinson

An ignorance a Sunset
Confer upon the Eye —
Of Territory — Color —
Circumference — Decay —

Its Amber Revelation
Exhilirate — Debase —
Omnipotence’ inspection
Of Our inferior face —

And when the solemn features
Confirm — in Victory —
We start — as if detected
In Immortality —
-Emily Dickinson

And this of all my Hopes
This, is the silent end
Bountiful colored, my Morning rose
Early and sere, its end

Never Bud from a Stem
Stepped with so gay a Foot
Never a Worm so confident
Bored at so brave a Root
-Emily Dickinson

“And with what body do they come?” —
Then they do come — Rejoice!
What Door — What Hour — Run — run — My Soul!
Illuminate the House!

“Body!” Then real — a Face and Eyes —
To know that it is them!
Paul knew the Man that knew the News —
He passed through Bethlehem —
-Emily Dickinson

Angels, in the early morning
May be seen the Dews among,
Stooping — plucking — smiling — flying —
Do the Buds to them belong?

Angels, when the sun is hottest
May be seen the sands among,
Stooping — plucking — sighing — flying —
Parched the flowers they bear along.
-Emily Dickinson

Answer July —
Where is the Bee —
Where is the Blush —
Where is the Hay?

Ah, said July —
Where is the Seed —
Where is the Bud —
Where is the May —
Answer Thee — Me —

Nay — said the May —
Show me the Snow —
Show me the Bells —
Show me the Jay!

Quibbled the Jay —
Where be the Maize —
Where be the Haze —
Where be the Bur?
Here — said the Year —
-Emily Dickinson

Apology for Her
Be rendered by the Bee —
Herself, without a Parliament
Apology for Me.
-Emily Dickinson

Apparently with no surprise
To any happy Flower
The Frost beheads it at its play —
In accidental power —
The blonde Assassin passes on —
The Sun proceeds unmoved
To measure off another Day
For an Approving God.
-Emily Dickinson

Are Friends Delight or Pain?
Could Bounty but remain
Riches were good —

But if they only stay
Ampler to fly away
Riches are sad.
-Emily Dickinson

Arrows enamored of his Heart —
Forgot to rankle there
And Venoms he mistook for Balms
disdained to rankle there —
-Emily Dickinson

Art thou the thing I wanted?
Begone — my Tooth has grown —
Supply the minor Palate
That has not starved so long —
I tell thee while I waited
The mystery of Food
Increased till I abjured it
And dine without Like God —

–

Art thou the thing I wanted?
Begone — my Tooth has grown —
Affront a minor palate
Thou could’st not goad so long —

I tell thee while I waited —
The mystery of Food
Increased till I