Emily Dickinson

My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun (764)

BY EMILY DICKINSON

My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun – In Corners – till a Day The Owner passed – identified – And carried Me away –

And now We roam in Sovreign Woods – And now We hunt the Doe – And every time I speak for Him The Mountains straight reply –

And do I smile, such cordial light Opon the Valley glow – It is as a Vesuvian face Had let it’s pleasure through –

And when at Night – Our good Day done – I guard My Master’s Head – ’Tis better than the Eider Duck’s Deep Pillow – to have shared –

To foe of His – I’m deadly foe – None stir the second time – On whom I lay a Yellow Eye – Or an emphatic Thumb –

Though I than He – may longer live He longer must – than I – For I have but the power to kill, Without – the power to die –

The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Edited by R. W. Franklin (Harvard University Press, 1999)