Poem 124

Above is the house in Amherst where Emily Dickinson lived. And below is a pure piece of self-indulgence because I stumbled across Dickinson's poem number 124, an old favorite that I had not thought of in a long while. For me, this poem is the marker-stone at the beginning of modern writing in America.

(124)

Safe in their Alabaster Chambers -

Untouched by Morning - 

and untouched by noon -

Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection, 

Rafter of Satin and Roof of Stone - 

Grand go the Years, 

In the Crescent above them -

Worlds scoop their Arcs - 

and Firmaments - row -

Diadems - drop -

And Doges surrender -

Soundless as Dots, 

On a Disk of Snow.