Emily Dickinson (1830–1986), an American poet.



“Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.”

“I died for beauty, but was scarce      
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.”

“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”

“A power of Butterfly must be –
The Aptitude to fly
Meadows of Majesty concedes
And easy Sweeps of Sky –”

“Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.”

“I wonder if it hurts to live –
And if They have to try –
And whether – could They choose between –
It would not be – to die –”

“My life closed twice before its close–
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me

So huge, so hopeless to conceive
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.”

“We never know how high we are
 Till we are called to rise;
And then, if we are true to plan,
Our statures touch the skies–”

“That I shall love alway–
I argue thee
That love is life–
And life hath Immortality–”

“We outgrow love, like other things
And put it in the Drawer –
Till it an Antique fashion shows–
Like Costumes Grandsires wore.”

“Love–is anterior to Life–
Posterior–to Death–
Initial of Creation, and
The Exponent of Earth–”

“She died – this was the way she died.
And when her breath was done
Took up her simple wardrobe
And started for the sun –
Her little figure at the gate
The Angels must have spied,
Since I could never find her
Upon the mortal side.”

“The Sun–just touched the Morning–
The Morning—Happy thing–
Supposed that He had come to dwell–
And Life would all be Spring!”

“Mine Enemy is growing old–
I have at last Revenge–
The Palate of the Hate departs–
If any would avenge

Let him be quick –the Viand flits–
It is a faded Meat–
Anger as soon as fed is dead–
'Tis starving makes it fat–”

“I felt a Cleaving in my Mind–
As if my Brain had split–
I tried to match it–Seam by Seam–
But could not make it fit.”

“The Brain–is wider than the Sky–
For–put them side by side–
The one the other will contain
With ease–and You–beside–”

“I like to see it lap the Miles–
And lick the Valleys up–
And stop to feed itself at Tanks–
And then - prodigious step”