Some Rainbow - coming from the Fair!
Some Vision of the World Cashmere
I confidently see!
Or else a Peacock's purple train
Feather by feather - on the plain -
Fritters itself away!
The dreamy Butterflies bestir!
Lethargic pools resume the whirr
Of last year's sundered tune -
From some old Fortress on the Sun
Baronial Bees march - one by one -
In murmuring platoon!
The Robins stand as thick today
As flakes of snow did, yesterday -
On fence, and roof - and twig -
The Orchis binds her feather on
For her old lover - Don the Sun.
Revisiting the Bog.
Without Commander Countless - still -
The Regiments of Wood and Hill
In bright detachments stand!
Behold! Whose Multitudes are these!
The Children of whose Turbaned seas -
Or what Circassian Land!
Emily.
Dear Sue,
I havnt "paid you an
attention" for some time.
Girl.
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NOTES
Emily Dickinson sent this poem/letter to Susan Dickinson in 1859.
Cashmere: a material made from fine soft wool. The archaic
spelling, kashmir, implies that the term is connected to the region
by the same name in India (Oxford Dictionary, 1995).
Orchis: an orchid of the genus orchid; any wild orchid
(Oxford Dictionary, 1995).
Circassian land: a region in Southern Europe, bordering
on the Black Sea. Its inhabitants are known for their legendary
beauty (Oxford Dictionary, 1995).
In Johnson, Complete Poems, it is #64. It is presented
here as transcribed by Martha Nell Smith and Ellen Hart in Open
Me Carefully. To view the manuscript image, follow this link
to the Dickinson
Electronic Archive (password protected).
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