< nypl.txt.1; letter_with_poem_enclosed_questionmark >
Dear friend -
Had
I known I asked
the impossible -
should I perhaps
have asked it,
but Abyss is it's
own apology -
I once asked
him what I should
do for him when
he was not here,
referring half
unconsciously to
the great Expanse -
In a tone italic
of both Worlds

<second leaf (NYPL)>
"Remember Me," he
said - I have kept
his Commandment -
But you are a
Psychologist, I, only
a Scholar who
has lost her
Preceptor -
For the great
kindness of your
opinion - I am
far indebted -
Perhaps to solidify
his faith was
for him impossible,
and if for him,
how more, for us!
Your noble and

<third leaf (NYPL)>
tender words of
him were Exceedingly
precious - I shall
cherish them -
He did not tell
me he "sang" to
you, though to
sing in his pres-
ence was involun-
tary, thronged
only with Music,
like the Decks
of Birds -
Abstinence from
Melody was what
made him die -
Calvary and May
wrestled in his

<fourth leaf (NYPL)>
Nature -
Neither fearing
Extinction, nor
prizing Redemption -
he believed alone -
Victory was his
Rendezvous -
I hope it took
him home -
But I fear I de-
tain you -
I try to thank
you and fail -
Perhaps the con-
fiding effort
you would not
disdain?
Sacredly,
E. Dickinson -