A 511: etext transcription

This fair-copy poem-draft, composed around 1878 (THJ, RWF), was found among Dickinson's papers after her death. She may have intended to send it to Elizabeth Holland, whose New York City address appears at the top of the manuscript. The manuscript has been folded into thirds, presumably in preparation for mailing. For a variant fair-copy version of the poem composed in 1871 (RWF) or 1872 (THJ) and sent to Susan Dickinson, see H 369. A fragment, A 509 / 510, inscribed with a variant of the poem's last lines, may have been Dickinson's point of departure for the 1878 version of the poem. For an intermediate-copy draft of the 1878 version of the poem, see A 508; for another fair-copy draft of the poem also composed around this time and found among Dickinson's papers after her death, see Princeton; for a fair-copy of the final stanza composed around 1883 (RWF) and signed "March," see A 786; this copy may have been sent to Mabel Loomis Todd.