8. “Before you thought of spring.” Part Two: Nature. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems

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

Part Two: Nature

VIII

BEFORE you thought of spring,
Except as a surmise,
You see, God bless his suddenness,
A fellow in the skies
Of independent hues,	5
A little weather-worn,
Inspiriting habiliments
Of indigo and brown.

With specimens of song,
As if for you to choose,	10
Discretion in the interval,
With gay delays he goes
To some superior tree
Without a single leaf,
And shouts for joy to nobody	15
But his seraphic self!