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Emily Dickinson · Poems

Poem 425 of 446 · Third Series: Time and Eternity

Dead

— ✻ —

There's something quieter than sleep Within this inner room! It wears a sprig upon its breast, And will not tell its name.

Some touch it and some kiss it, Some chafe its idle hand; It has a simple gravity I do not understand!

While simple-hearted neighbors Chat of the 'early dead,' We, prone to periphrasis, Remark that birds have fled!

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