The Carriage held but just Ourselves

Finally watched the Emily Dickinson biographical film - A Quiet Passion - a couple of nights ago ...

... as regular blip-readers will know, I'm a bit of a Dickinson-fan, and thus with bias openly admitted, I'd still very strongly recommend catching this film. I know it's divided opinion, but I was utterly bowled-over by it.

Here are just two of the poetic excerpts voiced during the end of the film, and at the portrayed end of Dickinson's life:


Because I could not stop for Death

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –

&

My life closed twice before its close

My life closed twice before its close—
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me

So huge, so hopeless to conceive
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.

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Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

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