Emily Dickinson Writing a Poem: H 203c, H 203d

Safe in their Alabaster
Chambers -
Untouched by Morning -
And untouched by Noon -
Lie the meek members of
the Resurrection -
Rafter of Satin - and Roof
of Stone !

Grand go the Years - in the
Crescent - above them -
Worlds scoop their Arcs -
And Firmaments - row -
Diadems - drop - and Doges -
Surrender -
Soundless as dots - on a
Disc of Snow -
______________________

Springs - shake the sills -
But - the Echoes - stiffen -
Hoar - is the window -

H 203d; P 216

And - numb - the door -
Tribes - of Eclipse - in Tents -
of Marble -
Staples - of Ages - have
buckled - there -
______________________

Springs - shake the Seals -
But the silence - stiffens -
Frosts unhook - in the
Northern Zones -
Icicles - crawl from polar
Caverns -
Midnight in Marble -
Refutes - the Suns -
______________________

Images reproduced by permission of the Houghton Library,
Harvard University. Not to be reproduced in whole or in part
without permission. Transcription and commentary copyright 1999 by
Martha Nell Smith, all rights reserved.
Maintained by Lara Vetter <lvetter@uncc.edu>
Last updated on March 10, 2008