One of the many brief extrageneric texts found among her late papers after her death, Dickinson's final intentions toward this fragment remain unknown. It may have been destined for incorporation into a poem, a letter, or another composition; alternatively, it may be an experiment in aphoristic form; or, possibly, a compressed lyric poem unrecognized as such because of the crudeness of its material container. Variants occurred to Dickinson both during the initial drive of writing—after writing "has" she immediately wrote "holds" next to it—and later, during a second reading, when she probably added yet another variant, "needs," for "has" above the line and in a smaller hand.