University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Poems by Emily Dickinson

Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

collapse section 
[section]
  
[My nosegays are for captives]
collapse section 
I. LIFE.
 1. 
[I. I'm nobody! Who are you?]
 2. 
[II. I bring an unaccustomed wine]
 3. 
[III. The nearest dream recedes, unrealized]
 4. 
[IV. We play at paste]
 5. 
[V. I found the phrase to every thought]
 6. 
VI. HOPE.
 7. 
VII. THE WHITE HEAT.
 8. 
VIII. TRIUMPHANT.
 9. 
IX. THE TEST.
 10. 
X. ESCAPE.
 11. 
XI. COMPENSATION.
 12. 
XII. THE MARTYRS.
 13. 
XIII. A PRAYER.
 14. 
[XIV. The thought beneath so slight a film]
 15. 
[XV. The soul unto itself]
 16. 
[XVI. Surgeons must be very careful]
 17. 
XVII. THE RAILWAY TRAIN.
 18. 
XVIII. THE SHOW.
 19. 
[XIX. Delight becomes pictorial]
 20. 
[XX. A thought went up my mind to-day]
 21. 
[XXI. Is Heaven a physician?]
 22. 
XXII. THE RETURN.
 23. 
[XXIII. A poor torn heart, a tattered heart]
 24. 
XXIV. TOO MUCH.
 25. 
XXV. SHIPWRECK.
 26. 
[XXVI. Victory comes late]
 27. 
XXVII. ENOUGH.
 28. 
[XXVIII. Experiment to me]
 29. 
XXIX. MY COUNTRY'S WARDROBE.
 30. 
[XXX. Faith is a fine invention]
 31. 
[XXXI. Except the heaven had come so near]
 32. 
[XXXII. Portraits are to daily faces]
 33. 
XXXIII. THE DUEL.
 34. 
[XXXIV. A shady friend for torrid days]
 35. 
XXXV. THE GOAL.
 36. 
XXXVI. SIGHT.
 37. 
[XXXVII. Talk with prudence to a beggar]
 38. 
XXXVIII. THE PREACHER.
 39. 
[XXXIX. Good night! which put the candle out?]
 40. 
[XL. When I hoped I feared]
 41. 
XLI. DEED.
 42. 
XLII. TIME'S LESSON.
 43. 
XLIII. REMORSE.
 44. 
XLIV. THE SHELTER.
 45. 
[XLV. Undue significance a starving man attaches]
 46. 
[XLVI. Heart not so heavy as mine]
 47. 
[XLVII. I many times thought peace had come]
 48. 
[XLVIII. Unto my books so good to turn]
 49. 
[XLIX. This merit hath the worst]
 50. 
L. HUNGER.
 51. 
[LI. I gained it so]
 52. 
[LII. To learn the transport by the pain]
 53. 
LIII. RETURNING.
 54. 
LIV. PRAYER.
 55. 
[LV. I know that he exists]
 56. 
LVI. MELODIES UNHEARD.
 57. 
LVII. CALLED BACK.
collapse section 
II. LOVE.
 1. 
I. CHOICE.
 2. 
[II. I have no life but this]
 3. 
[III. Your riches taught me poverty]
 4. 
IV. THE CONTRACT.
 5. 
V. THE LETTER.
 6. 
[VI. The way I read a letter's this]
 7. 
[VII. Wild nights! Wild nights!]
 8. 
VIII. AT HOME.
 9. 
IX. POSSESSION.
 10. 
[X. A charm invests a face]
 11. 
XI. THE LOVERS.
 12. 
[XII. In lands I never saw, they say]
 13. 
[XIII. The moon is distant from the sea]
 14. 
[XIV. He put the belt around my life]
 15. 
XV. THE LOST JEWEL.
 16. 
[XVI. What if I say I shall not wait?]
collapse section 
III. NATURE.
 1. 
I. MOTHER NATURE.
 2. 
II. OUT OF THE MORNING.
 3. 
[III. At half-past three a single bird]
 4. 
IV. DAY'S PARLOR.
 5. 
V. THE SUN'S WOOING.
 6. 
VI. THE ROBIN.
 7. 
VII. THE BUTTERFLY'S DAY.
 8. 
VIII. THE BLUEBIRD.
 9. 
IX. APRIL.
 10. 
X. THE SLEEPING FLOWERS.
 11. 
XI. MY ROSE.
 12. 
XII. THE ORIOLE'S SECRET.
 13. 
XIII. THE ORIOLE.
 14. 
XIV. IN SHADOW.
 15. 
XV. THE HUMMING-BIRD.
 16. 
XVI. SECRETS.
 17. 
[XVII. Who robbed the woods]
 18. 
XVIII. TWO VOYAGERS.
 19. 
XIX. BY THE SEA.
 20. 
XX. OLD-FASHIONED.
 21. 
XXI. A TEMPEST.
 22. 
XXII. THE SEA.
 23. 
XXIII. IN THE GARDEN.
 24. 
XXIV. THE SNAKE.
 25. 
XXV. THE MUSHROOM.
 26. 
XXVI. THE STORM.
 27. 
XXVII. THE SPIDER.
 28. 
[XXVIII. I know a place where summer strives]
 29. 
[XXIX. The one that could repeat the summer day]
 30. 
XXX. THE WIND'S VISIT.
 31. 
[XXXI. Nature rarer uses yellow]
 32. 
XXXII. GOSSIP.
 33. 
XXXIII. SIMPLICITY.
 34. 
XXXIV. STORM.
 35. 
XXXV. THE RAT.
 36. 
[XXXVI. Frequently the woods are pink]
 37. 
XXXVII. A THUNDER-STORM.
 38. 
XXXVIII. WITH FLOWERS.
 39. 
XXXIX. SUNSET.
 40. 
[XL. She sweeps with many-colored brooms]
 41. 
[XLI. Like mighty footlights burned the red]
 42. 
XLII. PROBLEMS.
 43. 
XLIII. THE JUGGLER OF DAY.
 44. 
XLIV. MY CRICKET.
 45. 
[XLV. As imperceptibly as grief]
 46. 
[XLVI. It can't be summer,—that got through]
 47. 
XLVII. SUMMER'S OBSEQUIES.
 48. 
XLVIII. FRINGED GENTIAN.
 49. 
XLIX. NOVEMBER.
 50. 
L. THE SNOW.
 51. 
LI THE BLUE JAY.
collapse section 
IV. TIME AND ETERNITY.
 1. 
[I. Let down the bars, O Death]
 2. 
[II. Going to heaven]
 3. 
[III. At least to pray is left, is left]
 4. 
IV. EPITAPH.
 5. 
[V. Morns like these we parted]
 6. 
[VI. A death-blow is a life-blow to some]
 7. 
[VII. I read my sentence steadily]
 8. 
[VIII. I have not told my garden yet]
 9. 
IX. THE BATTLE-FIELD.
 10. 
[X. The only ghost I ever saw]
 11. 
[XI. Some, too fragile for winter winds]
 12. 
[XII. As by the dead we love to sit]
 13. 
XIII. MEMORIALS.
 14. 
[XIV. I went to heaven]
 15. 
[XV. Their height in heaven comforts not]
 16. 
[XVI. There is a shame of nobleness]
 17. 
XVII. TRIUMPH.
 18. 
[XVIII. Pompless no life can pass away]
 19. 
[XIX. I noticed people disappeared]
 20. 
XX. FOLLOWING.
 21. 
[XXI. If anybody's friend be dead]
 22. 
XXII. THE JOURNEY.
 23. 
XXIII. A COUNTRY BURIAL.
 24. 
XXIV. GOING.
 25. 
[XXV. Essential oils are wrung]
 26. 
[XXVI. I lived on dread; to those who know]
 27. 
[XXVII. If I should die]
 28. 
XXVIII. AT LENGTH.
 29. 
XXIX. GHOSTS.
 30. 
XXX. VANISHED.
 31. 
XXXI. PRECEDENCE.
 32. 
XXXII. GONE.
 33. 
XXXIII. REQUIEM.
 34. 
[XXXIV. What inn is this]
 35. 
[XXXV. It was not death, for I stood up]
 36. 
XXXVI. TILL THE END.
 37. 
XXXVII. VOID.
 38. 
[XXXVIII. A throe upon the features]
 39. 
XXXIX. SAVED!
 40. 
[XL. I think just how my shape will rise]
 41. 
XLI. THE FORGOTTEN GRAVE.
 42. 
[XLII. Lay this laurel on the one]

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section Poems by Emily Dickinson
next section
118

VII.
THE BUTTERFLY'S DAY.

From cocoon forth a butterfly
As lady from her door
Emerged—a summer afternoon—
Repairing everywhere,
Without design, that I could trace,
Except to stray abroad
On miscellaneous enterprise
The clovers understood.
Her pretty parasol was seen
Contracting in a field
Where men made hay, then struggling hard
With an opposing cloud,
Where parties, phantom as herself,
To Nowhere seemed to go
In purposeless circumference,
As 't were a tropic show.
119

And notwithstanding bee that worked,
And flower that zealous blew,
This audience of idleness
Disdained them, from the sky,
Till sundown crept, a steady tide,
And men that made the hay,
And afternoon, and butterfly,
Extinguished in its sea.
previous section Poems by Emily Dickinson
next section