Safe in their alabaster chambers,

Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)



Safe in their alabaster chambers,
Untouched by morning and untouched by noon,
Sleep the meek members of the resurrection,
Rafter of satin, and roof of stone.

Light laughs the breeze in her castle of sunshine;
Babbles the bee in a stolid ear;
Pipe the sweet birds in ignorant cadences, --
Ah, what sagacity perished here!

Grand go the years in the crescent above them;
Worlds scoop their arcs, and firmaments row,
Diadems drop and Doges surrender,
Soundless as dots on a disk of snow.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

25 sec read
500

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXX XAXA XBXB
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 480
Words 86
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4

Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. more…

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