Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924. |
Part Three: Love
XXIX
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| THE ROSE did caper on her cheek, | |
| Her bodice rose and fell, | |
| Her pretty speech, like drunken men, | |
| Did stagger pitiful. | |
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| Her fingers fumbled at her work,— | 5 |
| Her needle would not go; | |
| What ailed so smart a little maid | |
| It puzzled me to know, | |
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| Till opposite I spied a cheek | |
| That bore another rose; | 10 |
| Just opposite, another speech | |
| That like the drunkard goes; | |
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| A vest that, like the bodice, danced | |
| To the immortal tune,— | |
| Till those two troubled little clocks | 15 |
| Ticked softly into one. | |
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