just the miles of Stare

I know I often blip from the pictured 1983 edited-collection ... but it *is* one of my very favourite poetry volumes :-)

And here's an Emily Dickinson poem from within, which is really rather special:


I've Known a Heaven

I've known a Heaven, like a Tent—
To wrap its shining Yards—
Pluck up its stakes, and disappear—
Without the sound of Boards
Or Rip of Nail—Or Carpenter—
But just the miles of Stare—
That signalize a Show's Retreat—
In North America—

No Trace—no Figment of the Thing
That dazzled, Yesterday,
No Ring—no Marvel—
Men, and Feats—
Dissolved as utterly—
As Bird's far Navigation
Discloses just a Hue—
A plash of Oars, a Gaiety—
Then swallowed up, of View.

---

Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886)

---