Emily Dickinson

Part Three: Love

XXVIII


A CHARM invests a face
Imperfectly beheld,?
The lady dare not lift her veil
For fear it be dispelled.

But peers beyond her mesh,
And wishes, and denies,?
Lest interview annul a want
That image satisfies.


Everytime I think of Emily Dickinson I remember the summer after 8th grade at summer camp when my roommate and I spent the whole night trying to analyze the verses in the book pictured (not the poem above). At around 3 am we were convinced there was a secret message encrypted into them and we had figured it out. I can't even describe that feeling. A mix of euphoria, accomplishment, and anxiousness of discovering such a secret. Next day in class we figure out all the verses weren't even from the same poem like we thought, but nevertheless I don't regret it. The feeling was spectacular.