Because I Could Not Stop For Death
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For his civility.
We passed the school where children strove,
At recess, in the ring.
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
Or rather, he passed us.
The dews drew quivering and chill
For only gossamer, my gown -
My tippet only tulle.
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then ''tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised then horses' heads
Were toward eternity.
- by Emily Dickinson
