poems sent from dickinson to higginson


Who were "the Father and the Son"
We pondered when a child,
And what had they to do with us
And when portentous told

With inference appalling
By Childhood fortified
We thought, at least they are no worse
Than they have been described.

Who are "the Father and the Son"
Did we demand Today
"The Father and the Son" himself
Would doubtless specify -

But had they the felicity
When we desired to know,
We better Friends had been, perhaps,
Than time ensue to be -

We start - to learn that we believe
But once - entirely -
Belief, it does not fit so well
When altered frequently -

We blush, that Heaven if we achieve -
Event ineffable -
We shall have shunned until ashamed
To own the Miracle -


thomas johnson's note on poem 1258 | index to dickinson poems sent to higginson

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Commentary copyright 1998 by Martha Nell Smith, all rights reserved
Maintained by Lara Vetter <lv26@umail.umd.edu>
Last updated on September 10, 1998