Time poems
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Read -- Sweet -- how others -- strove
© Emily Dickinson
Read -- Sweet -- how others -- strove --
Till we -- are stouter --
What they -- renounced --
Till we -- are less afraid --
Pain -- expands the Time --
© Emily Dickinson
Pain -- expands the Time --
Ages coil within
The minute Circumference
Of a single Brain --
Of Tribulation, these are They
© Emily Dickinson
Of Tribulation, these are They,
Denoted by the White --
The Spangled Gowns, a lesser Rank
Of Victors -- designate --
Of nearness to her sundered Things
© Emily Dickinson
Of nearness to her sundered Things
The Soul has special times --
When Dimness -- looks the Oddity --
Distinctness -- easy -- seems --
Myself was formed -- a Carpenter
© Emily Dickinson
Myself was formed -- a Carpenter --
An unpretending time
My Plane -- and I, together wrought
Before a Builder came --
Midsummer, was it, when They died --
© Emily Dickinson
Midsummer, was it, when They died --
A full, and perfect time --
The Summer closed upon itself
In Consummated Bloom --
Look back on Time, with kindly eyes --
© Emily Dickinson
Look back on Time, with kindly eyes --
He doubtless did his best --
How softly sinks that trembling sun
In Human Nature's West --
Like Time's insidious wrinkle
© Emily Dickinson
Like Time's insidious wrinkle
On a beloved Face
We clutch the Grace the tighter
Though we resent the crease
Just so -- Jesus -- raps
© Emily Dickinson
Just so -- Jesus -- raps --
He -- doesn't weary --
Last -- at the Knocker --
And first -- at the Bell.
Just lost, when I was saved!
© Emily Dickinson
Just lost, when I was saved!
Just felt the world go by!
Just girt me for the onset with Eternity,
When breath blew back,
And on the other side
I heard recede the disappointed tide!
Joy to have merited the Pain --
© Emily Dickinson
Joy to have merited the Pain --
To merit the Release --
Joy to have perished every step --
To Compass Paradise --
Its little Ether Hood
© Emily Dickinson
Its little Ether Hood
Doth sit upon its Head --
The millinery supple
Of the sagacious God --
It sounded as if the Streets were running
© Emily Dickinson
It sounded as if the Streets were running
And then -- the Streets stood still --
Eclipse -- was all we could see at the Window
And Awe -- was all we could feel.
It knew no Medicine --
© Emily Dickinson
It knew no Medicine --
It was not Sickness -- then --
Nor any need of Surgery --
And therefore -- 'twas not Pain --
Immortal is an ample word
© Emily Dickinson
Immortal is an ample word
When what we need is by
But when it leaves us for a time
'Tis a necessity.
If I may have it, when it's dead,
© Emily Dickinson
If I may have it, when it's dead,
I'll be contented -- so --
If just as soon as Breath is out
It shall belong to me --
If He were living -- dare I ask --
© Emily Dickinson
If He were living -- dare I ask --
And how if He be dead --
And so around the Words I went --
Of meeting them -- afraid --
If anybody's friend be dead
© Emily Dickinson
If anybody's friend be dead
It's sharpest of the theme
The thinking how they walked alive --
At such and such a time --
I tie my Hat -- I crease my Shawl
© Emily Dickinson
I tie my Hat -- I crease my Shawl --
Life's little duties do -- precisely --
As the very least
Were infinite -- to me --
I thought the Train would never come --
© Emily Dickinson
I thought the Train would never come --
How slow the whistle sang --
I don't believe a peevish Bird
So whimpered for the Spring --
