126. “If I may have it when it ’s dead.” Part Four: Time and Eternity. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems

Verse > Emily Dickinson > Complete Poems > IV. Time & Eternity > 126. “If I may have it when it ’s dead”

Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924.

Part Four: Time and Eternity

CXXVI

IF I may have it when it ’s dead
I will contented be;
If just as soon as breath is out
It shall belong to me,

Until they lock it in the grave,	5
’T is bliss I cannot weigh,
For though they lock thee in the grave,
Myself can hold the key.

Think of it, lover! I and thee
Permitted face to face to be;	10
After a life, a death we ’ll say,—
For death was that, and this is thee.