Emily Dickinson

What if I say I shall not wait!
What if I burst the fleshly Gate —
And pass escaped — to thee!

What if I file this Mortal — off —
See where it hurt me — That’s enough —
And wade in Liberty!

They cannot take me — any more!
Dungeons can call — and Guns implore
Unmeaning — now — to me —

As laughter — was — an hour ago —
Or Laces — or a

What is — “Paradise” —
Who live there —
Are they “Farmers” —
Do they “hoe” —
Do they know that this is “Amherst” —
And that I — am coming — too —

Do they wear “new shoes” — in “Eden” —
Is it always pleasant — there —
Won’t they scold us — when we’re homesick —
Or tell God — how cross we are —

You are sure there’s such a person
As “a Father” — in

What mystery pervades a well!
That water lives so far —
A neighbor from another world
Residing in a jar

Whose limit none have ever seen,
But just his lid of glass —
Like looking every time you please
In an abyss’s face!

The grass does not appear afraid,
I often wonder he
Can stand so close and look so bold
At what is awe to me.

Related somehow they may be,
The sedge stands next the sea —
Where he is floorless
And

What shall I do — it whimpers so —
This little Hound within the Heart
All day and night with bark and start —
And yet, it will not go —
Would you untie it, were you me —
Would it stop whining — if to Thee —
I sent it — even now?

It should not tease you —
By your chair — or, on the mat —
Or if it dare — to climb your dizzy

What tenements of clover
Are fitting for the bee,
What edifices azure
For butterflies and me —
What residences nimble
Arise and evanesce
Without a rhythmic rumor
Or an assaulting guess.
-Emily Dickinson

What we see we know somewhat
Be it but a little —
What we don’t surmise we do
Though it shows so fickle

I shall vote for Lands with Locks
Granted I can pick ’em —
Transport’s doubtful Dividend
Patented by Adam.
-Emily Dickinson

What would I give to see his face?
I’d give — I’d give my life — of course —
But that is not enough!
Stop just a minute — let me think!
I’d give my biggest Bobolink!
That makes two — Him — and Life!
You know who “June” is —
I’d give her —
Roses a day from Zanzibar —
And Lily tubes — like Wells —
Bees — by the furlong —
Straits of Blue
Navies of Butterflies —

Whatever it is — she has tried it —
Awful Father of Love —
Is not Ours the chastising —
Do not chastise the Dove —

Not for Ourselves, petition —
Nothing is left to pray —
When a subject is finished —
Words are handed away —

Only lest she be lonely
In thy beautiful House
Give her for her Transgression
License to think of us —
-Emily Dickinson

When Bells stop ringing — Church — begins
The Positive — of Bells —
When Cogs — stop — that’s Circumference —
The Ultimate — of Wheels.
-Emily Dickinson

When Diamonds are a Legend,
And Diadems — a Tale —
I Brooch and Earrings for Myself,
Do sow, and Raise for sale —

And tho’ I’m scarce accounted,
My Art, a Summer Day — had Patrons —
Once — it was a Queen —
And once — a Butterfly —
-Emily Dickinson

When Etna basks and purrs
Naples is more afraid
Than when she show her Garnet Tooth —
Security is loud —
-Emily Dickinson

When I count the seeds
That are sown beneath,
To bloom so, bye and bye —

When I con the people
Lain so low,
To be received as high —

When I believe the garden
Mortal shall not see —
Pick by faith its blossom
And avoid its Bee,
I can spare this summer, unreluctantly.
-Emily Dickinson

When I have seen the Sun emerge
From His amazing House —
And leave a Day at every Door
A Deed, in every place —

Without the incident of Fame
Or accident of Noise —
The Earth has seemed to me a Drum,
Pursued of little Boys
-Emily Dickinson

When I hoped, I recollect
Just the place I stood —
At a Window facing West —
Roughest Air — was good —

Not a Sleet could bite me —
Not a frost could cool —
Hope it was that kept me warm —
Not Merino shawl —

When I feared — I recollect
Just the Day it was —
Worlds were lying out to Sun —
Yet how Nature froze —

Icicles upon my soul
Prickled Blue and Cool —
Bird went

When I was small, a Woman died —
Today — her Only Boy
Went up from the Potomac —
His face all Victory

To look at her — How slowly
The Seasons must have turned
Till Bullets clipt an Angle
And He passed quickly round —

If pride shall be in Paradise —
Ourself cannot decide —
Of their imperial Conduct —
No person testified —

But, proud in Apparition —
That Woman and her Boy
Pass back and forth, before my Brain
As

When Katie walks, this simple pair accompany her side,
When Katie runs unwearied they follow on the road,
When Katie kneels, their loving hands still clasp her pious knee —
Ah! Katie! Smile at Fortune, with two so knit to thee!
-Emily Dickinson

When Memory is full
Put on the perfect Lid —
This Morning’s finest syllable
Presumptuous Evening said —
-Emily Dickinson

When Night is almost done —
And Sunrise grows so near
That we can touch the Spaces —
It’s time to smooth the Hair —

And get the Dimples ready —
And wonder we could care
For that old — faded Midnight —
That frightened — but an Hour —
-Emily Dickinson

When One has given up One’s life
The parting with the rest
Feels easy, as when Day lets go
Entirely the West

The Peaks, that lingered last
Remain in Her regret
As scarcely as the Iodine
Upon the Cataract.
-Emily Dickinson

When the Astronomer stops seeking
For his Pleiad’s Face —
When the lone British Lady
Forsakes the Arctic Race

When to his Covenant Needle
The Sailor doubting turns —
It will be amply early
To ask what treason means.
-Emily Dickinson

When we stand on the tops of Things —
And like the Trees, look down —
The smoke all cleared away from it —
And Mirrors on the scene —

Just laying light — no soul will wink
Except it have the flaw —
The Sound ones, like the Hills — shall stand —
No Lighting, scares away —

The Perfect, nowhere be afraid —
They bear their dauntless Heads,
Where others, dare not go at Noon,
Protected by their

When a Lover is a Beggar
Abject is his Knee —
When a Lover is an Owner
Different is he —

What he begged is then the Beggar —
Oh disparity —
Bread of Heaven resents bestowal
Like an obloquy —
-Emily Dickinson

When they come back — if Blossoms do —
I always feel a doubt
If Blossoms can be born again
When once the Art is out —

When they begin, if Robins may,
I always had a fear
I did not tell, it was their last Experiment
Last Year,

When it is May, if May return,
Had nobody a pang
Lest in a Face so beautiful
He might not look again?

If I am there — One does not know
What Party