The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Variorum Edition, Franklin, 1998
Emily Dickinson Archive
Better - than Music!For I - who heard it - I was used - to the Birds - before - This - was different - 'Twas Translation - Of all tunes I knew - and more -'Twas'nt contained - like other stanza - No one could play it - the second time - But the Composer - perfect Mozart - Perish with him - that keyless Rhyme! Children - so -assured that told how Brooks in Eden -Bubbled a better - melody -Quaintly infer - Eve's great surrender - Urging the feet - that would - not - fly - Children -grown up - matured - are wiser - mostly - Eden - a legend - dimlylearned • crooned told -Eve - and the Anguish - Grandame's story - But - I was telling a tune - I heard - Not such a strain - the Church - baptizes - When the last Saint - goes up the Aisles - Not such a stanza splits the silence -When the Redemption shakes -strikes her Bells -Let me notlose • waste - spill - it's smallest cadence - Humming - for promise - when alone - Humming - until my faint Rehearsal - Drop into tune - around the Throne -