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EMILY DICKINSON

1830-1886, United States

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Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers 1

Wild Nights Wild Nights! 1

Hope is the Thing ith Feathers 2

There's a Certain Slant of Light 2

I Felt a Funeral, in m Brain 3

I m Nobod ! Who are You? 3

The Soul Selects Her O n Societ 4

After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes 4

I Heard a Fl Bu When I Died 5

I Started Earl Took m Dog 6

Because I Could Not Stop for Death 7

A Narro Fello in the Grass 8

As Imperceptibl as Grief 9

Safe he A aba e Cha be

Safe in their Alabaster Chambers Untouched b Morning And untouched b Noon Lie the meek members of the Resurrection Rafter of Satin and Roof of Stone!

Grand go the Years in the Crescent - above them Worlds scoop their Arcs And Firmaments ro Diadems drop and Doges surrender Soundless as dots on a Disc of Sno

. 1861

W d N gh W d N gh !

Wild Nights Wild Nights! Were I ith thee Wild Nights should be Our lu ur !

Futile the Winds To a Heart in port Done ith the Compass Done ith the Chart!

Ro ing in Eden Ah the Sea! Might I but moor Tonight In Thee!

. 1861

1

H e he Th g h Fea he Hope is the thing ith feathers

That perches in the soul And sings the tune ithout the ords And never stops at all

And s eetest in the Gale is heard And sore must be the storm That could abash the little Bird That kept so man arm

I ve heard it in the chillest land And on the strangest Sea Yet, never, in E tremit , It asked a crumb of Me.

. 1861

The e' a Ce a S a f L gh

There's a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes

Heavenl Hurt, it gives us We can find no scar, But internal difference, Where the Meanings, are

None ma teach it An 'Tis the Seal Despair An imperial affliction Sent us of the Air

When it comes, the Landscape listens Shado s hold their breath When it goes, 'tis like the Distance On the look of Death

. 1861

2

I Fe a F e a , B a

I felt a Funeral, in m Brain, And Mourners to and fro Kept treading treading till it seemed That Sense as breaking through

And hen the all ere seated, A Service, like a Drum Kept beating beating till I thought M Mind as going numb

And then I heard them lift a Bo And creak across m Soul With those same Boots of Lead, again, Then Space began to toll,

As all the Heavens ere a Bell, And Being, but an Ear, And I, and Silence, some strange Race Wrecked, solitar , here

And then a Plank in Reason, broke, And I dropped do n, and do n And hit a World, at ever plunge, And Finished kno ing then

. 1861

I N b d ! Wh a e ?

I m Nobod ! Who are ou? Are ou Nobod too? Then there s a pair of us? Don t tell! the d advertise ou kno !

Ho drear to be Somebod ! Ho public like a Frog To tell one s name the livelong June To an admiring Bog!

. 1861

3

The S Se ec He O S c e

The Soul selects her o n Societ Then shuts the Door To her divine Majorit Present no more

Unmoved she notes the Chariots pausing At her lo Gate Unmoved an Emperor be kneeling Upon her Mat

I've kno n her from an ample nation Choose One Then close the Valves of her attention Like Stone

. 1862

Af e G ea Pa , a F a Fee g C e

After great pain, a formal feeling comes The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs The stiff Heart questions as it He, that bore, And Yesterda , or Centuries before?

The Feet, mechanical, go round Of Ground, or Air, or Ought A Wooden a Regardless gro n, A Quart contentment, like a stone

This is the Hour of Lead Remembered, if outlived, As Free ing persons, recollect the Sno First Chill then Stupor then the letting go

. 1862

4

I Hea d a F B Whe I D ed

I heard a Fl bu hen I died The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air Bet een the Heaves of Storm

The E es around had rung them dr And Breaths ere gathering firm For that last Onset hen the King Be itnessed in the Room

I illed m Keepsakes Signed a a What portion of me be Assignable and then it as There interposed a Fl

With Blue uncertain stumbling Bu Bet een the light and me And then the Windo s failed and then I could not see to see

. 1862

5

I S a ed Ea T D g

I started Earl Took m Dog And visited the Sea The Mermaids in the Basement Came out to look at me

And Frigates in the Upper Floor E tended Hempen Hands Presuming Me to be a Mouse Aground upon the Sands

But no Man moved Me till the Tide Went past m simple Shoe And past m Apron and m Belt And past m Bodice too

And made as He ould eat me up As holl as a De Upon a Dandelion's Sleeve And then I started too

And He He follo ed close behind I felt His Silver Heel Upon m Ankle Then m Shoes Would overflo ith Pearl

Until We met the Solid To n No One He seemed to kno And bo ing ith a Might look At me The Sea ithdre

. 1862

6

Beca e I C d N S f Dea h

Because I could not stop for Death He kindl stopped for me The Carriage held but just Ourselves And Immortalit .

We slo l drove He kne no haste And I had put a a M labor and m leisure too, For His Civilit

We passed the School, here Children strove At Recess in the Ring We passed the Fields of Ga ing Grain We passed the Setting Sun

Or rather He passed Us The De s dre quivering and Chill For onl Gossamer, m Go n M Tippet onl Tulle

We paused before a House that seemed A S elling of the Ground The Roof as scarcel visible The Cornice in the Ground

Since then 'tis Centuries and et Feels shorter than the Da I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were to ard Eternit

. 1863

7

A Na Fe he G a

A narro Fello in the Grass Occasionall rides You ma have met him Did ou not His notice sudden is

The Grass divides as ith a Comb A spotted shaft is seen And then it closes at our Feet And opens further on

He likes a Bogg Acre A Floor too cool for Corn But hen a Bo , and Barefoot I more than once at Noon

Have passed, I thought, a Whip Lash Unbraiding in the Sun When stooping to secure it It rinkled, and as gone

Several of Nature s People I kno , and the kno me I feel for them a transport Of Cordialit

But never met this Fello Attended, or alone Without a tighter breathing And Zero at the Bone

. 1865

8

A I e ce b a G ef

As imperceptibl as Grief The Summer lapsed a a Too imperceptible at last To seem like Perfid A Quietness distilled As T ilight long begun, Or Nature spending ith herself Sequestered Afternoon The Dusk dre earlier in The Morning foreign shone A courteous, et harro ing Grace, As Guest ho ould be gone And thus, ithout a Wing Or service of a Keel Our Summer made her light escape Into the Beautiful.

. 1865

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