Poem by Emily Dickinson. <3

Jul 08, 2004 23:32

I measure every grief I meet
with analytic eyes;
I wonder if it weights like mine,
Or has an easier size.

I wonder if they bore it long,
or did it just begin?
I could not tell the date of mine,
it feels so old a pain.

I wonder if it hurts to live,
And if they have to try,
And whether, could they choose between,
They would not rather die.

I wonder if when years have piled -
Some thousands - on the cause
of early hurt, if such a lapse
could give them any pause;

Or would they go aching still,
Through centuries above,
Enlightened to a larger pain
By contrast with the love.

The grieved are many, I am told;
The reason deeper lies,-
Death is but on and only comes once,
and only nails the eyes.

There's grief of want, and grief of cold, -
A sort they call "despair";
There's banishment from native eyes,
In sight of native air.

And though I may not guess the kind
Correctly, yet to me
A piercing comfort it affords
In passing Calvary,

To note the fashions of the cross,
Of those that stand alone,
Still facinated to presume
That some are like my own

__
I don't get how Emily can manage to see it all so clearly. Well, she expresses herself as though she does. To be able to clarify her emotions and others, and even touch the difficult subject of death. It's just amazing.
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