He put the belt around my life, –I heard the buckle snap,And turned away, imperial,My lifetime folding upDeliberate, as a duke would doA kingdom’s title-deed, –Henceforth a dedicated sort,A member of the cloud. Yet not too far to come at call,And do the little toilsThat make the circuit of the rest,And deal occasional smilesTo lives [...]

FOR Death,–or ratherFor the things ’twill buy,These put awayLife’s opportunity.The things that Death will buyAre Room,–EscapeFrom Circumstances,And a Name.How gifts of LifeWith Death’s gifts will compare,We know not–For the rates stop Here. – FOR Death,–or rather by Emily Dickinson

When I get to be a composerI’m gonna write me some music aboutDaybreak in AlabamaAnd I’m gonna put the purtiest songs in itRising out of the ground like a swamp mistAnd falling out of heaven like soft dew.I’m gonna put some tall tall trees in itAnd the scent of pine needlesAnd the smell of red [...]

And a man said, Speak to us of Self-Knowledge. And he answered, saying: Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights. But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart’s knowledge. You would know in words that which you have always know in thought. You would touch with your [...]

I gave myself to him,And took himself for pay.The solemn contract of a lifeWas ratified this way. The wealth might disappoint,Myself a poorer proveThan this great purchaser suspect,The daily own of Love Depreciate the vision;But, till the merchant buy,Still fable, in the isles of spice,The subtle cargoes lie. At least, ‘t is mutual risk, –Some [...]

She slept beneath a tree Remembered but by me.I touched her cradle mute;She recognized the foot,Put on her carmine suit, – And see! – THE TULIP – She slept beneath a tree by Emily Dickinson

Before you thought of spring,Except as a surmise,You see, God bless his suddenness,A fellow in the skiesOf independent hues,A little weather-worn,Inspiriting habilimentsOf indigo and brown. With specimens of song,As if for you to choose,Discretion in the interval,With gay delays he goesTo some superior treeWithout a single leaf,And shouts for joy to nobodyBut his seraphic self! [...]

Some rainbow coming from the fair!Some vision of the world CashmereI confidently see!Or else a peacock’s purple train,Feather by feather, on the plainFritters itself away! The dreamy butterflies bestir,Lethargic pools resume the whirOf last year’s sundered tune.From some old fortress on the sunBaronial bees march, one by one,In murmuring platoon! The robins stand as thick [...]

I envy not in any moodsThe captive void of noble rage,The linnet born within the cage,That never knew the summer woods: I envy not the beast that takesHis license in the field of time,Unfetter’d by the sense of crime,To whom a conscience never wakes; Nor, what may count itself as blest,The heart that never plighted [...]

His frown brought terror to his foes, But now in twilight of his daysThe pure perfection of a rose Can kindle rapture in his gaze.Where once he swung the sword of wrath And peoples trembled at his word,With hoe he trims a pansied path And listens to a bird. His large of life was lived [...]