Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924. |
Part Four: Time and Eternity
LXXVI
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| I SHOULD not dare to leave my friend, | |
| Because—because if he should die | |
| While I was gone, and I—too late— | |
| Should reach the heart that wanted me; | |
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| If I should disappoint the eyes | 5 |
| That hunted, hunted so, to see, | |
| And could not bear to shut until | |
| They “noticed” me—they noticed me; | |
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| If I should stab the patient faith | |
| So sure I ’d come—so sure I ’d come, | 10 |
| It listening, listening, went to sleep | |
| Telling my tardy name,— | |
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| My heart would wish it broke before, | |
| Since breaking then, since breaking then, | |
| Were useless as next morning’s sun, | 15 |
| Where midnight frosts had lain! | |
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