The Poetry of
Emily Dickinson 1830-1886

Sponsored By
By Dakota Balmore

PARTING

My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,

So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.

To see Emily's cat's version
be sure to go to
Poems by Victorian Cats
on this site.

UNPUBLISHED POEM

That God cannot
be understood
Everyone Agrees
We do not know
His motives nor
Comprehend his Deeds

Then why should I
Seek solace in
What I cannot
Know?
Better to pray
In winter's sun
Than to [fear] the
Snow.

Only recently discovered.

UNTITLED

A drop fell on the apple tree
Another on the roof;
A half a dozen kissed the eaves,
And made the gables laugh.

A few went out to help the brook,
That went to help the sea.
Myself conjectured, Were they pearls,
What necklaces could be!

The dust replaced in hoisted roa
The birds jocoser sung;
The sunshine threw his hat away,
The orchards spangles hung.

The breezes brought dejected
And bathed them in the glee;
The East put out a single flag,
And signed the fete away.

I HEARD A FLY BUZZ - WHEN I DIED

I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air -
Between the Heaves of Storm -

The Eyes around - had wrung them dry -
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset - when the King
Be witnessed - in the Room -

I willed my Keepsakes - Signed away
What portion of me be
Assignable - and then it was
There interposed a Fly -

With Blue - uncertain stumbling Buzz -
Between the light and me -
And then the Windows failed - and then
I could not see to see -

I'M NOBODY! WHO ARE YOU?

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you - Nobody - Too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise - you know!

How dreary - to be - Somebody!
How public - like a Frog -
To tell one's name - the livelong June -
To an admiring Bog!

BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH

Because I could not stop for Death -
He kindly stopped for me -
The carriage held but just Ourselves -
And Immortality.

We slowly drove - He knew no haste
And I put away
My labor and leisure too,
For His Civility -

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess - in the Ring -
We passed the Fields of Grazing Grain -
We passed the Setting Sun -

Or rather - He passed Us -
The Dews drew quivering and chill -
For only Gossamer, my Gown -
My Tippet - only Tulle -

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground -
The Roof was scarcely visible -
The Cornice - in the Ground -

Since then - 'tis Centuries - and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horse' Heads
Were toward Eternity -



Link to Vintage Victorian


email graphic by Victoriana.com,
A Victorian Antique Marketplace

RETURN
TO
POETRY
RETURN
MAIN
MENU