Emily Dickinson
I died for Beauty...
I died for beauty - but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb
When One who died for Truth, was lain
In an adjoining room -
He questioned softly 'Why I failed'?
'For Beauty', I replied -
'And I - for Truth - Themself are one -
We Brethern, are', He said -
And so, as Kinsmen, met a night -
We talked between the rooms -
Until the Moss had reached our lips -
And covered up - our names -
Apparently with no surprise...
Apparently with no surprise
To any happy flower
The Frost beheads it at its play -
In accidental power -
The blonde Assassin passes on -
The Sun proceeds unmoved
To measure off another day
For an Approving God.
My life closed twice before its close...
My life closed twice before its close -
It yet remains to see
If immortality unveil
A third event to me.
So huge, so hopeless to conceive
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.