Severer Service of myself

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Severer Service of myself
I -- hastened to demand
To fill the awful Vacuum
Your life had left behind --

I worried Nature with my Wheels
When Hers had ceased to run --
When she had put away Her Work
My own had just begun.

I strove to weary Brain and Bone --
To harass to fatigue
The glittering Retinue of nerves --
Vitality to clog

To some dull comfort Those obtain
Who put a Head away
They knew the Hair to --
And forget the color of the Day --

Affliction would not be appeased --
The Darkness braced as firm
As all my stratagem had been
The Midnight to confirm --

No Drug for Consciousness -- can be --
Alternative to die
Is Nature's only Pharmacy
For Being's Malady --

© Emily Dickinson