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A Prison gets to be a friend -- in
General
A Prison gets to be a friend --
Between its Ponderous face
And Ours -- a Kinsmanship express --
And in its narrow Eyes --
We come to look with gratitude
For the appointed Beam
It deal us -- stated as our food --
And hungered for -- the same --
We learn to know the Planks --
That answer to Our feet --
So miserable a sound -- at first --
Nor ever now -- so sweet --
As plashing in the Pools --
When Memory was a Boy --
But a Demurer Circuit --
A Geometric Joy --
The Posture of the Key
That interrupt the Day
To Our Endeavor -- Not so real
The Check of Liberty --
As this Phantasm Steel --
Whose features -- Day and Night --
Are present to us -- as Our Own --
And as escapeless -- quite --
The narrow Round -- the Stint --
The slow exchange of Hope --
For something passiver -- Content
Too steep for lookinp up --
The Liberty we knew
Avoided -- like a Dream --
Too wide for any Night but Heaven --
If That -- indeed -- redeem --
By Emily Dickinson
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Other poems by Emily Dickinson:
- "And with what body do they come?" --
- "Arcturus" is his other name
- "Faith" is a fine invention
- "Faithful to the end" Amended
- "Go tell it" -- What a Message --
- "Go travelling with us!"
- "Heaven" -- is what I cannot reach!
- "Heaven" has different Signs -- to me --
- "Heavenly Father" -- take to thee
- "Hope" is the thing with feathers
- "Houses" -- so the Wise Men tell me
- "I want" -- it pleaded -- All its life --
- "Lethe" in my flower,
- "Morning" -- means "Milking" -- to the Farmer
- "Nature" is what we see --
- "Red Sea," indeed! Talk not to me
- "Remember me" implored the Thief!
- "Secrets" is a daily word
- "Sic transit gloria mundi"
- "Sown in dishonor"!
- "Speech" -- is a prank of Parliament --
- "They have not chosen me," he said,
- "Tomorrow" -- whose location
- "Unto Me?" I do not know you --
- "Was not" was all the Statement.
- "Why do I love" You, Sir?
- A Bee his burnished Carriage
- A Bird came down the Walk
- A Burdock -- clawed my Gown
- A Cap of Lead across the sky
- A Charm invests a face
- A chilly Peace infests the Grass
- A Clock stopped
- A Cloud withdrew from the Sky
- A Coffin -- is a small Domain,
- A Counterfeit -- a Plated Person --
- A curious Cloud surprised the Sky,
- A darting fear -- a pomp -- a tear
- A Day! Help! Help! Another Day!
- A Death blow is a Life blow to Some
- A Deed knocks first at Thought
- A Dew sufficed itself --
- A Diamond on the Hand
- A Dimple in the Tomb
- A Door just opened on a street --
- A doubt if it be Us
- A Drop Fell on the Apple Tree --
- A Drunkard cannot meet a Cork
- A Dying Tiger -- moaned for Drink --
- A face devoid of love or grace,
- A faded Boy -- in sallow Clothes
- A feather from the Whippoorwill
- A Field of Stubble, lying sere
- A first Mute Coming --
- A Flower will not trouble her, it has so small a F
- A full fed Rose on meals of Tint
- A fuzzy fellow, without feet,
- A great Hope fell
- A happy lip -- breaks sudden
- A House upon the Height
- A Lady red -- amid the Hill
- A lane of Yellow led the eye
- A Letter is a joy of Earth --
- A Light exists in Spring
- A little bread -- a crust -- a crumb
- A little Dog that wags his tail
- A little East of Jordan,
- A little Madness in the Spring
- A little overflowing word
- A little Road -- not made of Man --
- A little Snow was here and there
- A long -- long Sleep -- A famous -- Sleep --
- A loss of something ever felt I --
- A Man may make a Remark --
- A Mien to move a Queen
- A Mine there is no Man would own
- A Moth the hue of this
- A Murmur in the Trees -- to note
- A narrow Fellow in the Grass
- A nearness to Tremendousness --
- A Night -- there lay the Days between
- A Pang is more conspicuous in Spring
- A Pit -- but Heaven over it --
- A Planted Life -- diversified
- A poor -- torn heart -- a tattered heart
- A Prison gets to be a friend --
- A prompt -- executive Bird is the Jay --
- A Rat surrendered here
- A Route of Evanescence
- A Saucer holds a Cup
- A science -- so the Savants say,
- A Secret told
- A sepal, petal, and a thorn
- A Shade upon the mind there passes
- A shady friend -- for Torrid days
- A Sickness of this World it most occasions
- A single Clover Plank
- A single Screw of Flesh
- A slash of Blue
- A Sloop of Amber slips away
- A soft Sea washed around the House
- A solemn thing -- it was -- I said
- A Solemn thing within the Soul
- A South Wind -- has a pathos
- A Sparrow took a Slice of Twig
- A Spider sewed at Night
- A stagnant pleasure like a Pool
- A still -- Volcano -- Life --
- A Thought went up my mind today --
- A throe upon the features
- A Toad, can die of Light --
- A Tongue -- to tell Him I am true!
- A Tooth upon Our Peace
- A train went through a burial gate,
- A transport one cannot contain
- A Visitor in Marl
- A Weight with Needles on the pounds
- A Wife -- at daybreak I shall be
- A wild Blue sky abreast of Winds
- A Wind that rose
- A winged spark doth soar about --
- A Word dropped careless on a Page
- A word is dead
- A Word made Flesh is seldom
- A World made penniless by that departure
- A Wounded Deer -- leaps highest
- Abraham to kill him --
- Absence disembodies -- so does Death
- Absent Place -- an April Day --
- Adrift! A little boat adrift!
- Afraid! Of whom am I afraid?
- After a hundred years
- After all Birds have been investigated and laid as
- After great pain, a formal feeling comes
- After the Sun comes out
- Again -- his voice is at the door --
- Ah, Moon -- and Star!
- Ah, Necromancy Sweet!
- Ah, Teneriffe!
- Air has no Residence, no Neighbor,
- All but Death, can be Adjusted --
- All Circumstances are the Frame
- All forgot for recollecting
- All I may, if small,
- All men for Honor hardest work
- All overgrown by cunning moss,
- All that I do
- All the letters I can write
- All these my banners be.
- All things swept sole away
- Alone and in a Circumstance
- Alone, I cannot be
- Alter! When the Hills do --
- Although I put away his life
- Always Mine!
- Ambition cannot find him.
- Ample make this Bed --
- An altered look about the hills
- An antiquated Grace
- An Antiquated Tree
- An honest Tear
- An Hour is a Sea
- An ignorance a Sunset
- And this of all my Hopes
- Angels, in the early morning
- Answer July
- Apology for Her
- Apparently with no surprise
- Are Friends Delight or Pain?
- Arrows enamored of his Heart --
- Art thou the thing I wanted?
- Artists wrestled here!
- As by the dead we love to sit,
- As Children bid the Guest "Good Night"
- As Everywhere of Silver
- As far from pity, as complaint
- As from the earth the light Balloon
- As Frost is best conceived
- As if I asked a common Alms
- As if some little Arctic flower
- As if the Sea should part
- As imperceptibly as Grief
- As old as Woe --
- As One does Sickness over
- As plan for Noon and plan for Night
- As Sleigh Bells seem in summer
- As subtle as tomorrow
- As Summer into Autumn slips
- As the Starved Maelstrom laps the Navies
- As Watchers hang upon the East,
- As we pass Houses musing slow
- Ashes denote that Fire was --
- At Half past Three, a single Bird
- At last, to be identified!
- At least -- to pray -- is left -- is left --
- At leisure is the Soul
- Aurora is the effort
- Autumn -- overlooked my Knitting --
- Awake ye muses nine
- Away from Home are some and I --
- Back from the cordial Grave I drag thee
- Baffled for just a day or two
- Banish Air from Air --
- Be Mine the Doom --
- Beauty -- be not caused -- It Is --
- Beauty crowds me till I die
- Because He loves Her
- Because I could not stop for Death --
- Because my Brook is fluent
- Because that you are going
- Because the Bee may blameless hum
- Bees are Black, with Gilt Surcingles --
- Before He comes we weigh the Time!
- Before I got my eye put out
- Before the ice is in the pools
- Before you thought of Spring
- Behind Me -- dips Eternity --
- Behold this little Bane --
- Belshazzar had a Letter --
- Bereaved of all, I went abroad --
- Bereavement in their death to feel
- Besides the Autumn poets sing
- Besides this May
- Best Things dwell out of Sight
- Best Witchcraft is Geometry
- Betrothed to Righteousness might be
- Better -- than Music! For I -- who heard it --
- Between My Country -- and the Others --
- Between the form of Life and Life
- Bind me -- I still can sing --
- Birthday of but a single pang
- Blazing in Gold and quenching in Purple
- Bless God, he went as soldiers,
- Bliss is the plaything of the child --
- Bloom -- is Result -- to meet a Flower
- Bloom upon the Mountain -- stated --
- Blossoms will run away,
- Bound -- a trouble
- Bring me the sunset in a cup,
- Brother of Ingots -- Ah Peru --
- But little Carmine hath her face --
- By a departing light
- By a flower -- By a letter
- By Chivalries as tiny,
- By homely gift and hindered Words
- By my Window have I for Scenery
- By such and such an offering
- Candor -- my tepid friend --
- Circumference thou Bride of Awe
- Civilization -- spurns -- the Leopard!
- Climbing to reach the costly Hearts
- Cocoon above! Cocoon below!
- Color -- Caste -- Denomination --
- Come show thy Durham Breast
- Come slowly -- Eden!
- Conferring with myself
- Confirming All who analyze
- Conjecturing a Climate
- Conscious am I in my Chamber,
- Contained in this short Life
- Cosmopolities without a plea
- Could -- I do more -- for Thee
- Could Hope inspect her Basis
- Could I -- then -- shut the door
- Could I but ride indefinite
- Could live -- did live
- Could mortal lip divine
- Could that sweet Darkness where they dwell
- Count not that far that can be had,
- Crisis is a Hair
- Crisis is sweet and yet the Heart
- Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?
- Dear March -- Come in --
- Death is a Dialogue between
- Death is like the insect
- Death is potential to that Man
- Death is the supple Suitor
- Death leaves Us homesick, who behind,
- Death sets a Thing significant
- Death warrants are supposed to be
- Declaiming Waters none may dread --
- Defrauded I a Butterfly --
- Delayed till she had ceased to know
- Delight -- becomes pictorial --
- Delight is as the flight
- Denial -- is the only fact
- Departed -- to the Judgment --
- Deprived of other Banquet,
- Dew -- is the Freshet in the Grass --
- Did Our Best Moment last
- Did the Harebell loose her girdle
- Did We abolish Frost
- Did we disobey Him?
- Distance -- is not the Realm of Fox
- Distrustful of the Gentian
- Do People moulder equally,
- Dominion lasts until obtained --
- Doom is the House without the Door
- Doubt Me! My Dim Companion!
- Drab Habitation of Whom?
- Dreams are the subtle Dower
- Dropped into the Ether Acre --
- Drowning is not so pitiful
- Dust is the only Secret
- Dying at my music!
- Dying! To be afraid of thee
- Dying! Dying in the night!
- Each Life Converges to some Centre --
- Each Second is the last
- Each that we lose takes part of us;
- Eden is that old-fashioned House
- Elizabeth told Essex
- Elysium is as far as to
- Embarrassment of one another
- Empty my Heart, of Thee --
- Endanger it, and the Demand
- Ended, ere it begun --
- Endow the Living -- with the Tears --
- Escape is such a thankful Word
- Escaping backward to perceive
- Essential Oils -- are wrung --
- Estranged from Beauty -- none can be --
- Except the Heaven had come so near
- Except the smaller size
- Except to Heaven, she is nought.
- Exhilaration -- is within
- Exhilaration is the Breeze
- Expanse cannot be lost --
- Expectation -- is Contentment --
- Experience is the Angled Road
- Experiment escorts us last --
- Experiment to me
- Extol thee -- could I? Then I will
- Exultation is the going
- Facts by our side are never sudden
- Fairer through Fading -- as the Day
- Faith -- is the Pierless Bridge
- Falsehood of Thee could I suppose
- Fame is a bee.
- Fame is a fickle food
- Fame is the one that does not stay --
- Fame is the tine that Scholars leave
- Fame of Myself, to justify,
- Far from Love the Heavenly Father
- Fate slew Him, but He did not drop --
- Few, yet enough,
- Finding is the first Act
- Finite -- to fail, but infinite to Venture --
- Fitter to see Him, I may be
- Flowers -- Well -- if anybody
- Follow wise Orion
- For Death -- or rather
- For each ecstatic instant
- For every Bird a Nest
- For this -- accepted Breath
- Forbidden Fruit a flavor has
- Forever -- it composed of Nows --
- Forever at His side to walk
- Forever honored by the Tree
- Forget! The lady with the Amulet
- Fortitude incarnate
- Four Trees -- upon a solitary Acre --
- Frequently the wood are pink
- Frigid and sweet Her parting Face --
- From all the Jails the Boys and Girls
- From Blank to Blank --
- From Cocoon forth a Butterfly
- From his slim Palace in the Dust
- From Us She wandered now a Year,
- Funny -- to be a Century
- Further in Summer than the Birds
- Garland for Queens, may be
- Gathered into the Earth,
- Give little Anguish
- Given in Marriage unto Thee
- Glass was the Street -- in tinsel Peril
- Glee -- The great storm is over --
- Glory is that bright tragic thing
- Glowing is her Bonnet,
- Go not too near a House of Rose --
- Go slow, my soul, to feed thyself
- Go thy great way!
- God gave a Loaf to every Bird --
- God is a distant -- stately Lover
- God is indeed a jealous God --
- God made a little Gentian
- God made no act without a cause,
- God permits industrious Angels
- Going to Heaven!
- Going to Him! Happy letter!
- Good Morning -- Midnight
- Good Night! Which put the Candle out?
- Good night, because we must,
- Gratitude -- is not the mention
- Great Caesar! Condescend
- Great Streets of silence led away
- Grief is a Mouse --
- Growth of Man -- like Growth of Nature --
- Guest am I to have
- Had I known that the first was the last
- Had I not seen the Sun
- Had I not This, or This, I said,
- Had I presumed to hope --
- Had this one Day not been.
- Had we known the Ton she bore
- Had we our senses
- Have any like Myself
- Have you got a Brook in your little heart,
- He ate and drank the precious Words --
- He forgot -- and I -- remembered
- He found my Being -- set it up --
- He fumbles at your Soul
- He gave away his Life --
- He is alive, this morning --
- He lived the Life of Ambush
- He outstripped Time with but a Bout,
- He parts Himself -- like Leaves --
- He preached upon "Breadth" till it argued him narr
- He put the Belt around my life
- He scanned it -- staggered --
- He strained my faith
- He told a homely tale
- He touched me, so I live to know
- He was my host -- he was my guest,
- He was weak, and I was strong -- then
- He went by sleep that drowsy route
- He who in Himself believes --
- Heart! We will forget him!
- Heart, not so heavy as mine
- Heaven is so far of the Mind
- Her -- "last Poems"
- Her breast is fit for pearls,
- Her face was in a bed of hair,
- Her final Summer was it --
- Her Grace is all she has --
- Her little Parasol to lift
- Her Losses make our Gains ashamed --
- Her smile was shaped like other smiles --
- Her sovereign People
- Her spirit rose to such a height
- Her Sweet turn to leave the Homestead
- Her sweet Weight on my Heart a Night
- Here, where the Daisies fit my Head
- Herein a Blossom lies --
- High from the earth I heard a bird,
- His Bill an Auger is
- His Bill is clasped -- his Eye forsook --
- His Cheek is his Biographer --
- His Feet are shod with Gauze --
- His Heart was darker than the starless night
- His little Hearse like Figure
- His Mansion in the Pool
- His Mind like Fabrics of the East
- His mind of man, a secret makes
- His oriental heresies
- His voice decrepit was with Joy --
- Hope is a strange invention --
- Hope is a subtle Glutton --
- How brittle are the Piers
- How dare the robins sing,
- How destitute is he
- How far is it to Heaven?
- How firm Eternity must look
- How fits his Umber Coat
- How fleet -- how indiscreet an one --
- How fortunate the Grave --
- How good his Lava Bed,
- How happy I was if I could forget
- How happy is the little Stone
- How Human Nature dotes
- How lonesome the Wind must feel Nights --
- How many Flowers fail in Wood
- How many schemes may die
- How many times these low feet staggered
- How much of Source escapes with thee --
- How much the present moment means
- How News must feel when travelling
- How noteless Men, and Pleiads, stand,
- How ruthless are the gentle --
- How sick -- to wait -- in any place -- but thine
- How slow the Wind --
- How soft a Caterpillar steps --
- How soft this Prison is
- How still the Bells in Steeples stand
- How the old Mountains drip with Sunset
- How the Waters closed above Him
- How well I knew Her not
- I am afraid to own a Body --
- I am alive -- I guess
- I am ashamed -- I hide
- I asked no other thing --
- I bet with every Wind that blew
- I breathed enough to take the Trick
- I bring an unaccustomed wine
- I Came to buy a smile -- today
- I can wade Grief
- I cannot be ashamed
- I cannot dance upon my Toes
- I cannot live with You --
- I cannot meet the Spring unmoved --
- I cannot want it more --
- I cautious, scanned my little life
- I could bring You Jewels -- had I a mind to --
- I could die -- to know --
- I could not drink it, Sweet,
- I could not prove the Years had feet --
- I could suffice for Him, I knew --
- I cried at Pity -- not at Pain --
- I cross till I am weary
- I did not reach Thee
- I died for Beauty -- but was scarce
- I dreaded that first Robin, so,
- I dwell in Possibility --
- I envy Seas, whereon He rides
- I fear a Man of frugal Speech --
- I felt a Cleaving in my Mind --
- I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
- I felt my life with both my hands
- I fit for them --
- I found the words to every thought
- I gained it so
- I gave myself to Him --
- I got so I could take his name
- I groped for him before I knew
- I had a daily Bliss
- I had a guinea golden
- I had been hungry, all the Years --
- I had no Cause to be awake --
- I had no time to Hate
- I had not minded -- Walls
- I had some things that I called mine
- I had the Glory -- that will do
- I have a Bird in spring
- I have a King, who does not speak
- I have never seen "Volcanoes"
- I have no Life but this --
- I heard a Fly buzz -- when I died
- I heard, as if I had no Ear
- I held a Jewel in my fingers
- I hide myself within my flower,
- I keep my pledge.
- I knew that I had gained
- I know a place where Summer strives
- I know lives, I could miss
- I know of people in the Grave
- I know some lonely Houses off the Road
- I know Suspense -- it steps so terse
- I know that He exists.
- I know where Wells grow -- Droughtless Wells
- I learned -- at least -- what Home could be --
- I like a look of Agony,
- I like to see it lap the Miles --
- I live with Him -- I see His face
- I lived on Dread --
- I lost a World -- the other day!
- I made slow Riches but my Gain
- I make His Crescent fill or lack --
- I many times thought Peace had come
- I meant to find Her when I came --
- I meant to have but modest needs
- I measure every Grief I meet
- I met a King this afternoon!
- I never felt at Home -- Below
- I never hear that one is dead
- I never hear the word "escape"
- I never lost as much but twice
- I never saw a Moor --
- I never told the buried gold
- I noticed People disappeared
- I often passed the village
- I pay -- in Satin Cash
- I play at Riches -- to appease
- I prayed, at first, a little Girl,
- I read my sentence -- steadily
- I reason, Earth is short
- I reckon -- when I count it all --
- I robbed the Woods
- I rose -- because He sank --
- I saw no Way -- The Heavens were stitched
- I saw that the Flake was on it
- I saw the wind within her
- I see thee better -- in the Dark --
- I see thee clearer for the Grave
- I send Two Sunsets
- I send you a decrepit flower
- I shall keep singing!
- I shall know why -- when Time is over
- I shall not murmur if at last
- I should have been too glad, I see
- I should not dare to be so sad
- I should not dare to leave my friend,
- I showed her Heights she never saw
- I sing to use the Waiting
- I sometimes drop it, for a Quick --
- I started Early -- Took my Dog --
- I stepped from Plank to Plank
- I stole them from a Bee
- I sued the News -- yet feared -- the News
- I suppose the time will come
- I taste a liquor never brewed
- I tend my flowers for thee
- I think I was enchanted
- I think just how my shape will rise
- I think that the Root of the Wind is Water --
- I think the Hemlock likes to stand
- I think the longest Hour of all
- I think to Live -- may be a Bliss
- I thought that nature was enough
- I thought the Train would never come --
- I tie my Hat -- I crease my Shawl
- I took my Power in my Hand --
- I took one Draught of Life --
- I tried to think a lonelier Thing
- I was a Phoebe -- nothing more --
- I was the slightest in the House
- I watched the Moon around the House
- I watcher her face to see which way
- I went to Heaven
- I went to thank Her
- I worked for chaff and earning Wheat
- I would distil a cup
- I would not paint -- a picture --
- I Years had been from Home
- Ideals are the Fairly Oil
- If all the griefs I am to have
- If any sink, assure that this, now standing
- If Blame be my side -- forfeit Me --
- If ever the lid gets off my head
- If He dissolve -- then
- If He were living -- dare I ask --
- If I can stop one Heart from breaking
- If I could bribe them by a Rose
- If I could tell how glad I was
- If I should cease to bring a Rose
- If I should die,
- If it had no pencil
- If my Bark sink
- If Nature smiles -- the Mother must
- If pain for peace prepares
- If recollecting were forgetting,
- If she had been the Mistletoe
- If the foolish, call them "flowers"
- If this is "fading"
- If those I loved were lost
- If What we could -- were what we would
- If wrecked upon the Shoal of Thought
- If you were coming in the Fall,
- If your Nerve, deny you
- Image of Light, Adieu --
- Immortal is an ample word
- Immured in Heaven!
- Impossibility, like Wine
- In Ebon Box, when years have flown
- In falling Timbers buried --
- In lands I never saw -- they say
- In many and reportless places
- In rags mysterious as these
- In snow thou comest --
- In this short Life
- In thy long Paradise of Light
- In Winter in my Room
- Inconceivably solemn!
- Is Bliss then, such Abyss,
- Is Heaven a Physician?
- Is Immortality a bane
- Is it dead -- Find it
- Is it too late to touch you, Dear?
- Is it true, dear Sue?
- It always felt to me -- a wrong
- It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon --
- It came at last but prompter Death
- It came his turn to beg --
- It ceased to hurt me, though so slow
- It did not surprise me
- It dropped so low -- in my Regard --
- It feels a shame to be Alive
- It is a lonesome Glee --
- It is an honorable Thought
- It is easy to work when the soul is at play
- It knew no lapse, nor Diminuation --
- It knew no Medicine --
- It makes no difference abroad --
- It might be lonelier
- It rises -- passes -- on our South
- It sifts from Leaden Sieves
- It sounded as if the Streets were running
- It stole along so stealthy
- It struck me -- every Day
- It tossed -- and tossed --
- It troubled me as once I was --
- It was a Grave, yet bore no Stone
- It was a quiet seeming Day --
- It was a quiet way --
- It was given to me by the Gods
- It was not Death, for I stood up,
- It was not Saint -- it was too large --
- It was too late for Man --
- It will be Summer -- eventually.
- It would have starved a Gnat --
- It would never be Common -- more -- I said
- It would not know if it were spurned,
- Its Hour with itself
- Its little Ether Hood
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