A 870: etext transcription

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 radically compressed poem unrecognized as such because of the crudeness of its material container. Dickinson wrote sideways in the white space of the header; the initial letters of each line cross over the blue rule. Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723) was the English architect who designed St. Paul's Cathedral.