I am afraid to own a Body, by Emily Dickinson

I am afraid to own a Body

I am afraid to own a Body -

I am afraid to own a Soul -

Profound– precarious Property –

Possession, not optional -

Double Estate - entailed at pleasure

Upon an unsuspecting Heir -

Duke in a moment of Deathlessness

And God, for a Frontier.

560 It knew no lapse, nor Diminuation… But large—serene— Burned on—until through Dissoluti… It failed from Men—

LXXXII THERE’S a certain slant of ligh… On winter afternoons, That oppresses, like the weight Of cathedral tunes.

Not Sickness stains the Brave, Nor any Dart, Nor Doubt of Scene to come, But an adjourning Heart -

965 Denial—is the only fact Perceived by the Denied— Whose Will—a numb significance— The Day the Heaven died—

736 Have any like Myself Investigating March, New Houses on the Hill descried— And possibly a Church—

934 That is solemn we have ended Be it but a Play Or a Glee among the Garret Or a Holiday

XII I CANNOT live with you, It would be life, And life is over there Behind the shelf

35 Nobody knows this little Rose— It might a pilgrim be Did I not take it from the ways And lift it up to thee.

541 Some such Butterfly be seen On Brazilian Pampas— Just at noon—no later—Sweet— Then—the License closes—

A lane of Yellow led the eye Unto a Purple Wood Whose soft inhabitants to be Surpasses solitude If Bird the silence contradict

920 We can but follow to the Sun— As oft as He go down He leave Ourselves a Sphere behin… ’Tis mostly—following—

142 Whose are the little beds, I aske… Which in the valleys lie? Some shook their heads, and others… And no one made reply.

205 I should not dare to leave my frie… Because—because if he should die While I was gone—and I—too late— Should reach the Heart that wante…

971 Robbed by Death—but that was easy… To the failing Eye I could hold the latest Glowing— Robbed by Liberty

‘Heavenly Father’ - take to thee The supreme iniquity Fashioned by thy candid Hand In a moment contraband - Though to trust us - seems to us