There's a Certain Slant of Light
Emily Dickinson


There's a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons —
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes —

Heavenly Hurt, it gives us —
We can find no scar,
But internal difference,
Where the meanings are —

None my teach it — Any —
'Tis the Seal Despair —
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the Air —

When it comes, the Landscape listens —
Shadows — hold their breath —
When it goes, 'tis like the Distance
On the look of Death —

I cannot live with You

Emily Dickinson

I cannot live with You –

It would be Life –

And Life is over there –

Behind the Shelf

The Sexton keeps the key to –

Putting up

Our Life – His Porcelain –

Like a Cup –

Discarded of the Housewife –

Quaint – or Broke –

A newer Sevres pleases –

Old Ones crack –

I could not die – with You –

For One must wait

To shut the Other's Gaze down –

You – could not –

And I – Could I stand by

And see You – freeze –

Without my Right of Frost –

Death's privilege?

Nor could I rise – with You –

Because Your Face

Would put out Jesus' –

That New Grace

Glow plain – and foreign

On my homesick eye –

Except that You than He

Shone closer by –

They'd judge Us – How –

For You – served Heaven – You know,

Or sought to –

I could not –

Because You saturated sight –

And I had no more eyes

For sordid excellence

As Paradise

And were You lost, I would be –

Though my name 

Rang loudest

On the Heavenly fame –

And were You – saved –

And I – condemned to be

Where You were not

That self – were Hell to me –

So we must meet apart –

You there – I – here –

With just the Door ajar

That Oceans Are – and Prayer –

And that White Sustenance –

Despair –

Much Madness is Divinest Sense
Emily Dickinson


Much Madness is divinest Sense—
To a discerning Eye—
Much Sense—the starkest Madness—
'Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail—
Assent—and you are sane—
Demur—you're straightaway dangerous—
And handled with a Chain—