Emily Dickinson

Success is counted sweetest By those who ne'er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires a sorest need.Not one of all the purple Host Who took the Flag today Can tell the definition

The Bustle in a House The Morning after Death Is solemnest of industries Enacted upon Earth -The Sweeping up the Heart And putting Love away We shall not want to use again

Surgeons must be very careful When they take the knife! Underneath their fine incisions Stirs the culprit,—Life!

God preaches, a noted Clergyman – And the sermon is never long, So instead of getting to Heaven, at last – I'm going, all along.

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – I keep it, staying at Home – With a Bobolink for a Chorister – And an Orchard, for a Dome –

Some Days retired from the rest In soft distinction lie, The Day that a companion came— Or was obliged to die.

So proud she was to die It made us all ashamed That what we cherished, so unknown To her desire seemed.So satisfied to go Where none of us should be, Immediately, that anguish stooped

Safe in their Alabaster Chambers - Untouched by Morning - And untouched by noon - Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection, Rafter of Satin and Roof of Stone -Grand go the Years, In the Crescent above them -

Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn Indicative that suns go down; The notice to the startled grass That darkness is about to pass.

Our journey had advanced; Our feet were almost come To that odd fork in Being's road, Eternity by term.Our pace took sudden awe, Our feet reluctant led. Before were cities, but between,

One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted – One need not be a House – The Brain has Corridors – surpassing Material Place –

Not with a Club, the Heart is broken Nor with a Stone – A Whip so small you could not see it I've knownTo lash the Magic Creature Till it fell, Yet that Whip's Name

No rack can torture me, My soul 's at liberty. Behind this mortal bone There knits a bolder oneYou cannot prick with saw, Nor rend with scymitar. Two bodies therefore be;

New feet within my garden go, New fingers stir the sod; A troubadour upon the elm Betrays the solitude.New children play upon the green, New weary sleep below; And still the pensive spring returns,

Nature is what we see, The Hill, the Afternoon— Squirrel, Eclipse, the Bumble-bee, Nay—Nature is Heaven.Nature is what we hear, The Bobolink, the Sea— Thunder, the Cricket—

My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun – In Corners – till a Day The Owner passed – identified – And carried Me away –And now We roam in Sovereign Woods – And now We hunt the Doe – And every time I speak for Him –

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,

Much madness is divinest sense To a discerning eye; Much sense the starkest madness. 'Tis the majority In this, as all, prevails. Assent, and you are sane;

More than the Grave is closed to me – The Grave and that Eternity To which the Grave adheres – I cling to nowhere till I fall – The Crash of nothing, yet of all – How similar appears –

Mine enemy is growing old,— I have at last revenge. The palate of the hate departs; If any would avenge,—Let him be quick, the viand flits, It is a faded meat. Anger as soon as fed is dead;

Love – thou art Veiled – A few – behold thee – Smile – and alter – and prattle – and die – Bliss – were an Oddity – without thee – Nicknamed by God – Eternity –

Love is anterior to life, Posterior to death, Initial of creation, and The exponent of breath.

It's such a little thing to weep, So short a thing to sigh; And yet by trades the size of these We men and women die!

It tossed and tossed,— A little brig I knew,— O'ertook by blast, It spun and spun, And groped delirious, for morn.It slipped and slipped, As one that drunken stepped;