Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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

Part Three: Love

XXXII

HE put the belt around my life,—

I heard the buckle snap,

And turned away, imperial,

My lifetime folding up

Deliberate, as a duke would do

A kingdom’s title-deed,—

Henceforth a dedicated sort,

A member of the cloud.

Yet not too far to come at call,

And do the little toils

That make the circuit of the rest,

And deal occasional smiles

To lives that stoop to notice mine

And kindly ask it in,—

Whose invitation, knew you not

For whom I must decline?