Poems by Emily Dickinson Part 38

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, The forest of the dead.

Retreat was out of hope, -- Behind, a sealed route, Eternity's white flag before, And G.o.d at every gate.

XXIII.

A COUNTRY BURIAL.

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.

XXIV.

GOING.

On such a night, or such a night, Would anybody care If such a little figure Slipped quiet from its chair,

So quiet, oh, how quiet!

That n.o.body might know But that the little figure Rocked softer, to and fro?

On such a dawn, or such a dawn, Would anybody sigh That such a little figure Too sound asleep did lie

For chanticleer to wake it, -- Or stirring house below, Or giddy bird in orchard, Or early task to do?

There was a little figure plump For every little knoll, Busy needles, and spools of thread, And trudging feet from school.

Playmates, and holidays, and nuts, And visions vast and small.

Strange that the feet so precious charged Should reach so small a goal!

XXV.

Essential oils are wrung: The attar from the rose Is not expressed by suns alone, It is the gift of screws.

The general rose decays; But this, in lady's drawer, Makes summer when the lady lies In ceaseless rosemary.

XXVI.

I lived on dread; to those who know The stimulus there is In danger, other impetus Is numb and vital-less.

As 't were a spur upon the soul, A fear will urge it where To go without the spectre's aid Were challenging despair.

XXVII.

If I should die, And you should live, And time should gurgle on, And morn should beam, And noon should burn, As it has usual done; If birds should build as early, And bees as bustling go, -- One might depart at option From enterprise below!

'T is sweet to know that stocks will stand When we with daisies lie, That commerce will continue, And trades as briskly fly.

It makes the parting tranquil And keeps the soul serene, That gentlemen so sprightly Conduct the pleasing scene!

XXVIII.

AT LENGTH.

Her final summer was it, And yet we guessed it not; If tenderer industriousness Pervaded her, we thought

A further force of life Developed from within, -- When Death lit all the shortness up, And made the hurry plain.

We wondered at our blindness, -- When nothing was to see But her Carrara guide-post, -- At our stupidity,

When, duller than our dulness, The busy darling lay, So busy was she, finishing, So leisurely were we!

XXIX.

GHOSTS.

One need not be a chamber to be haunted, One need not be a house; The brain has corridors surpa.s.sing Material place.

Far safer, of a midnight meeting External ghost, Than an interior confronting That whiter host.