Barbara Penn

39

It did not surprise me – 
So I said – or thought – 
She will stir her pinions 
And the nest forgot, 

Traverse broader forest – 
Build in gayer boughs, 
Breathe in Ear more modern 
God's old fashioned vows – 

This was but a Birdling – 
What and if it be 
One within my bosom 
Had departed me? 

This was but a story – 
What and if indeed 
There were just such coffin 
In the heart instead?

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c. 1858                                                    1945

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by Emily Dickinson
from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by Thomas H. Johnson