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 a longer
pensée; it may be an experiment in aphoristic form. The numerals "2" and
"1," in Dickinson's hand, indicate a revision of word order. Although there is no
text on the reverse side of the manuscript, a stray mark, possibly the numeral
"2," is visible; it has not been transcribed.