public-poetry · 21 June 2024

Public Poetry. Emily Dickenson.

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Public Poetry. Emily Dickenson.
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away My labor,
and my leisure too,
For his civility.
We passed the school,Where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
Or rather, he passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then 'tis centuries,
and yet each Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.



I heard a fly Buzz.

Emily Dickinson, 1830 - 1886

I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –  
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air –  
Between the Heaves of Storm –
The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –  
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset – when the King
Be witnessed – in the Room – 
I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away
What portions of me be
Assignable – and then it was
There interposed a Fly – 
With Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz –  
Between the light – and me –  
And then the Windows failed – and then

I could not see to see –

FLY FLY

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