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Poems by Emily Dickinson

Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

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collapse section1. 
I. LIFE.
 1. 
I. REAL RICHES.
 2. 
II. SUPERIORITY TO FATE.
 3. 
III. HOPE.
 4. 
IV. FORBIDDEN FRUIT. I.
 5. 
V. FORBIDDEN FRUIT. II.
 6. 
VI. A WORD.
 7. 
[VII. To venerate the simple days]
 8. 
VIII. LIFE'S TRADES.
 9. 
[IX. Drowning is not so pitiful]
 10. 
[X. How still the bells in steeples stand]
 11. 
[XI. If the foolish call them ‘flowers,’]
 12. 
XII. A SYLLABLE.
 13. 
XIII. PARTING.
 14. 
XIV. ASPIRATION.
 15. 
XV. THE INEVITABLE,
 16. 
XVI. A BOOK.
 17. 
[XVII. Who has not found the heaven below]
 18. 
XVIII. A PORTRAIT.
 19. 
XIX. I HAD A GUINEA GOLDEN.
 20. 
XX. SATURDAY AFTERNOON.
 21. 
[XXI. Few get enough,—enough is one]
 22. 
[XXII. Upon the gallows hung a wretch]
 23. 
XXIII. THE LOST THOUGHT.
 24. 
XXIV. RETICENCE.
 25. 
XXV. WITH FLOWERS.
 26. 
[XXVI. The farthest thunder that I heard]
 27. 
[XXVII. On the bleakness of my lot]
 28. 
XXVIII. CONTRAST.
 29. 
XXIX. FRIENDS.
 30. 
XXX. FIRE.
 31. 
XXXI. A MAN.
 32. 
XXXII. VENTURES.
 33. 
XXXIII. GRIEFS.
 34. 
[XXXIV. I have a king who does not speak]
 35. 
XXXV. DISENCHANTMENT.
 36. 
XXXVI. LOST FAITH.
 37. 
XXXVII. LOST JOY.
 38. 
[XXXVIII. I worked for chaff, and earning wheat]
 39. 
[XXXIX. Life and Death, and Giants]
 40. 
XL. ALPINE GLOW.
 41. 
XLI. REMEMBRANCE.
 42. 
[XLII. To hang our head ostensibly]
 43. 
XLIII. THE BRAIN.
 44. 
[XLIV. The bone that has no marrow]
 45. 
XLV. THE PAST.
 46. 
[XLVI. To help our bleaker parts]
 47. 
[XLVII. What soft, cherubic creatures]
 48. 
XLVIII. DESIRE.
 49. 
XLIX. PHILOSOPHY.
 50. 
L. POWER.
 51. 
[LI. A modest lot, a fame petite]
 52. 
[LII. Is bliss, then, such abyss]
 53. 
LIII. EXPERIENCE.
 54. 
LIV. THANKSGIVING DAY.
 55. 
LV. CHILDISH GRIEFS.
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II. LOVE.
 1. 
I. CONSECRATION.
 2. 
II. LOVE'S HUMILITY.
 3. 
III. LOVE.
 4. 
IV. SATISFIED.
 5. 
V. WITH A FLOWER.
 6. 
VI. SONG.
 7. 
VII. LOYALTY.
 8. 
[VIII. To lose thee, sweeter than to gain]
 9. 
[IX. Poor little heart]
 10. 
X. FORGOTTEN.
 11. 
[XI. I've got an arrow here]
 12. 
XII. THE MASTER.
 13. 
[XIII. Heart, we will forget him]
 14. 
[XIV. Father, I bring thee not myself]
 15. 
[XV. We outgrow love like other things]
 16. 
[XVI. Not with a club the heart is broken]
 17. 
XVII. WHO?
 18. 
[XVIII. He touched me, so I live to know]
 19. 
XIX. DREAMS.
 20. 
XX. NUMEN LUMEN.
 21. 
XXI. LONGING.
 22. 
XXII. WEDDED.
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III. NATURE.
 1. 
I. NATURE'S CHANGES.
 2. 
II. THE TULIP.
 3. 
[III. A light exists in spring]
 4. 
IV. THE WAKING YEAR.
 5. 
V. TO MARCH.
 6. 
VI. MARCH.
 7. 
VII. DAWN.
 8. 
[VIII. A murmur in the trees to note]
 9. 
[IX. Morning is the place for dew]
 10. 
[X. To my quick ear the leaves conferred]
 11. 
XI. A ROSE.
 12. 
[XII. High from the earth I heard a bird]
 13. 
XIII. COBWEBS.
 14. 
XIV. A WELL.
 15. 
[XV. To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee]
 16. 
XVI. THE WIND.
 17. 
[XVII. A dew sufficed itself]
 18. 
XVIII. THE WOODPECKER.
 19. 
XIX. A SNAKE.
 20. 
[XX. Could I but ride indefinite]
 21. 
XXI. THE MOON.
 22. 
XXII. THE BAT.
 23. 
XXIII. THE BALLOON.
 24. 
XXIV. EVENING.
 25. 
XXV. COCOON.
 26. 
XXVI. SUNSET.
 27. 
XXVII. AURORA.
 28. 
XXVIII. THE COMING OF NIGHT.
 29. 
XXIX. AFTERMATH.
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IV. TIME AND ETERNITY.
 1. 
[I. This world is not conclusion]
 2. 
[II. We learn in the retreating]
 3. 
[III. They say that time assuages]
 4. 
[IV. We cover thee, sweet face]
 5. 
V. ENDING.
 6. 
[VI. The stimulus, beyond the grave]
 7. 
[VII. Given in marriage unto the]
 8. 
[VIII. That such have died enables us]
 9. 
[IX. They won't frown always,—some sweet day]
 10. 
X. IMMORTALITY.
 11. 
[XI. The distance that the dead have gone]
 12. 
[XII. How dare the robins sing]
 13. 
XIII. DEATH.
 14. 
XIV. UNWARNED.
 15. 
[XV. Each that we lose takes part of us]
 16. 
[XVI. Not any higher stands the grave]
 17. 
XVII. ASLEEP.
 18. 
XVIII. THE SPIRIT.
 19. 
XIX. THE MONUMENT.
 20. 
[XX. Bless God, he went as soldiers]
 21. 
[XXI. Immortal is an ample word]
 22. 
[XXII. Where every bird is bold to go]
 23. 
[XXIII. The grave my little cottage is]
 24. 
[XXIV. This was in the white of the year]
 25. 
[XXV. Sweet hours have perished here]
 26. 
[XXVI. Me! Come! My dazzled face]
 27. 
XXVII. INVISIBLE.
 28. 
[XXVIII. Me! Come! My dazzled face]
 29. 
XXIX. TRYING TO FORGET.
 30. 
[XXX. I felt a funeral in my brain]
 31. 
[XXXI. I meant to find her when I came]
 32. 
XXXII. WAITING.
 33. 
[XXXIII. A sickness of this world it most occasions]
 34. 
[XXXIV. Superfluous were the sun]
 35. 
[XXXV. So proud she was to die]
 36. 
XXXVI. FAREWELL.
 37. 
[XXXVII. The dying need but little, dear]
 38. 
XXXVIII. DEAD.
 39. 
[XXXIX. The soul should always stand ajar]
 40. 
[XL. Three weeks passed since I had seen her]
 41. 
[XLI. I breathed enough to learn the trick]
 42. 
[XLII. I wonder if the sepulchre]
 43. 
XLIII. JOY IN DEATH.
 44. 
[XLIV. If I may have it when it's dead]
 45. 
[XLV. Before the ice is in the pools]
 46. 
XLVI. DYING.
 47. 
[XLVII. Adrift! A little boat adrift]
 48. 
[XLVIII. There's been a death in the opposite house]
 49. 
[XLIX. We never know we go,—when we are going]
 50. 
L. THE SOUL'S STORM.
 51. 
[LI. Water is taught by thirst]
 52. 
LII. THIRST.
 53. 
[LIII. A clock stopped—not the mantel's]
 54. 
LIV. CHARLOTTE BRONTË'S GRAVE.
 55. 
[LV. A toad can die of light]
 56. 
[LVI. Far from love the Heavenly Father]
 57. 
LVII. SLEEPING.
 58. 
LVIII. RETROSPECT.
 59. 
LIX. ETERNITY.

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128

XXIII.
THE BALLOON.

You've seen balloons set, have n't you?
So stately they ascend
It is as swans discarded you
For duties diamond.
Their liquid feet go softly out
Upon a sea of blond;
They spurn the air as 'twere too mean
For creatures so renowned.
Their ribbons just beyond the eye,
They struggle some for breath,
And yet the crowd applauds below;
They would not encore death.
The gilded creature strains and spins,
Trips frantic in a tree,
Tears open her imperial veins
And tumbles in the sea.
129

The crowd retire with an oath
The dust in streets goes down,
And clerks in counting-rooms observe,
‘'T was only a balloon.’
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