Sunshine was a sweet place -
I liked to stay -
But Morn - did'nt want me - now -
So - Goodnight - Day!
I can look - cant I -
When the East is Red?
The Hills - have a way - then -
That puts the Heart - abroad -
You - are not so fair - Midnight -
I chose - Day -
But - please take a little Girl
He turned away!
Note on Dashes:
I chose to use n-dashes throughout the poem because I think the dashes on Dickinson's manuscript look too scant to be considered m-dashes.
Line-by-line Rationale:
1: I've capitalized the first letters of each word because they appear to be capitalized on Dickinson's manuscript. Bianchi and Hampson do not capitalize "morning" in Further Poems of Emily Dickinson, but Johnson does in his editions. The dashes are n-dashes, although on the manuscript they could be described as dots (and are smaller than the other dashes on the manuscript). I feel that using dots here, rather than n-dashes, would make the first line look like it didn't fit with the rest of the poem. I also think that using dashes here is much less severe than Bianchi and Hampson's first line with a comma and exclamation point: "Good morning, Midnight!"
2: Two decisions in this line: the capitalization of "Home" and the dash at the end of the line. I've capitalized "Home" because it looks to be capitalized on Dickinson's manuscript. I've also put a dash rather than a comma at the end of the line (Bianchi and Hampson use a comma here) because the mark on the manuscript seems to be drawn horizontally rather than vertically.
3: Here, I've capitalized the "M" in "Me" because it looks like it is capitalized on the manuscript. Johnson does this as well. Also, the manuscript shows a clear dash after "Day" and another one after "Me," and I've included them.
4: I've capitalized "Him," as it looks to be capitalized on the manuscript. I thought that the dash after "I" was questionable because it is a little low on the line, but I've decided to include it for two reasons: the mark on the page looks to be pulled horizontally, and the mark seems to follow Dickinson's pen stroke from the end of the "I."
5. I read the mark at the end of this line as a dash. Everything else is the same as it is on the manuscript.
6: This line is also the same as it is on the manuscript, as well as on Johnson's and Bianchi and Hampson's transcriptions.
7: On the manuscript, "Morn" looks to be capitalized; I've capitalized it here. I read the marks after "Morn," "me," and "now" as dashes. Also, on the manuscript, the apostrophe in "did'nt" is in the wrong place. I've decided to keep this as Dickinson wrote it. I think it keeps the poem more like the way Dickinson wrote it, and I don't think it drastically alters the reading of the poem. (In the Variorum, Johnson uses "did'nt," but in the Complete, he writes "didn't.)
8: I've capitalized the first letters of all of the words in this line. The marks on the manuscript between words look like dashes, and I've included them, as well as the exclamation point at the end of the line. I decided to write "Goodnight" as one word instead of two because the space between the "d" and the "n" is significantly less than the space between other words in the poem.
9: Instead of "can't," Dickinson left out the apostrophe and wrote "cant." I've included this without the apostrophe for two reasons: first, to remain true to the manuscript, and second, I think that reading "cant" as a verb offers an interesting second meaning to the line (even though the question mark at the end of the next line may make reading the poem this way seem somewhat awkward). I've written the mark after "look" as a dash. Although the mark at the end of the line on the manuscript is questionably low for a dash, I've written it as one for reasons similar to those explained in the rationale for line 4.
10: I've capitalized the first letters of "East" and "Red" because they look capitalized on the manuscript. Johnson does this, but Bianchi and Hampson do not capitalize "Red."
11: "Hills" looks capitalized on the manuscript, and I've written it as such. I've also written the marks after "Hills," "way," and "then" as dashes.
12: "Heart" is capitalized and dashes are included for the same reasons mentioned for the previous line.
13: Like Johnson and Bianchi and Hampson, I see "Midnight" as capitalized, and like Johnson, I've included dashes where they seem to be on the manuscript.
14: "Day" looks to be capitalized on the manuscript, and I've written it as such. Dashes are included where they look to be on the manuscript.
15: "Girl" is capitalized and a dash is included after "But" because they look to be that way on the manuscript. However, unlike Johnson, I do not read the mark at the end of the line as a dash; I think it looks too low on the line to be considered a dash, and it doesn't look like a comma. It also doesn't follow the pen stroke of the "l" in "girl," and is awkward grammatically. Additionally, the mark after the dash/dot before "please" looks a little like a comma, but doesn't fit grammatically. I've chosen not to include these two marks in my transcription in an effort to give the reader a poem that is somewhat grammatically correct and smoother to read. I don't think it compromises the reading of the poem.
16: I've written this line as it is on the manuscript and in Johnson and Bianchi and Hampson's versions.