Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924. |
Part Four: Time and Eternity
LIII
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| DEATH sets a thing significant | |
| The eye had hurried by, | |
| Except a perished creature | |
| Entreat us tenderly | |
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| To ponder little workmanships | 5 |
| In crayon or in wool, | |
| With “This was last her fingers did,” | |
| Industrious until | |
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| The thimble weighed too heavy, | |
| The stitches stopped themselves, | 10 |
| And then ’t was put among the dust | |
| Upon the closet shelves. | |
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| A book I have, a friend gave, | |
| Whose pencil, here and there, | |
| Had notched the place that pleased him,— | 15 |
| At rest his fingers are. | |
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| Now, when I read, I read not, | |
| For interrupting tears | |
| Obliterate the etchings | |
| Too costly for repairs. | 20 |
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