Crumbling is not an instant's Act

Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)



Crumbling is not an instant's Act
A fundamental pause
Dilapidation's processes
Are organized Decays.

'Tis first a Cobweb on the Soul
A Cuticle of Dust
A Borer in the Axis
An Elemental Rust—

Ruin is formal—Devil's work
Consecutive and slow—
Fail in an instant, no man did
Slipping—is Crash's law.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

16 sec read
223

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXX XAXA XXXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 300
Words 52
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4

Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. more…

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