I cannot live with You (640)

Emily Dickinson

 
I cannot live with You – 
It would be Life – 
And Life is over there – 
Behind the Shelf
The Sexton keeps the Key to – 
Putting up
Our Life – His Porcelain – 
Like a Cup – 
Discarded of the Housewife – 
Quaint – or Broke – 
A newer Sevres pleases – 
Old Ones crack – 
I could not die – with You – 
For One must wait
To shut the Other's Gaze down – 
You – could not – 
And I – could I stand by
And see You – freeze – 
Without my Right of Frost – 
Death's privilege?
Nor could I rise – with You – 
Because Your Face
Would put out Jesus' – 
That New Grace
Glow plain – and foreign
On my homesick Eye – 
Except that You than He
Shone closer by – 
They'd judge Us – How – 
For You – served Heaven – You know,
Or sought to – 
I could not – 
Because You saturated Sight – 
And I had no more Eyes
For sordid excellence
As Paradise
And were You lost, I would be – 
Though My Name
Rang loudest
On the Heavenly fame – 
And were You – saved – 
And I – condemned to be
Where You were not – 
That self – were Hell to Me – 
So We must meet apart – 
You there – I – here – 
With just the Door ajar
That Oceans are – and Prayer – 
And that White Sustenance – 
Despair – 
 
Reprinted by permission of the publishers and the Trustees of Amherst College from The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Thomas H. Johnson, ed., Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1951, 1955, 1979 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Poems by This Author

A Bird came down the Walk (328) by Emily Dickinson
A Bird came down the Walk
A Drop fell on the Apple Tree (794) by Emily Dickinson
A Drop fell on the Apple Tree
A lane of Yellow led the eye (1650) by Emily Dickinson
A lane of Yellow led the eye
A Man may make a Remark (952) by Emily Dickinson
A Man may make a Remark
Because I could not stop for Death (712) by Emily Dickinson
Because I could not stop for Death--
Besides the Autumn poets sing (131) by Emily Dickinson
Besides the Autumn poets sing
Color - Caste - Denomination - (970) by Emily Dickinson
Color - Caste - Denomination
Come Slowly—Eden (211) by Emily Dickinson
Come slowly—Eden
Dear March - Come in - (1320) by Emily Dickinson
Dear March - Come in -
Fame is a fickle food (1659) by Emily Dickinson
Fame is a fickle food
Hope is the thing with feathers (254) by Emily Dickinson
Hope is the thing with feathers
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280) by Emily Dickinson
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
I heard a Fly buzz (465) by Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz--when I died--
I like to see it lap the Miles (43) by Emily Dickinson
I like to see it lap the Miles
I measure every Grief I meet (561) by Emily Dickinson
I measure every Grief I meet
I taste a liquor never brewed (214) by Emily Dickinson
I taste a liquor never brewed--
I tie my Hat—I crease my Shawl (443) by Emily Dickinson
I tie my Hat—I crease my Shawl—
I'm Nobody! Who are you? (260) by Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who are you?
It sifts from Leaden Sieves - (311) by Emily Dickinson
It sifts from Leaden Sieves
It was not Death, for I stood up (510) by Emily Dickinson
It was not Death, for I stood up
It's all I have to bring today (26) by Emily Dickinson
It's all I have to bring today
Knows how to forget! (433) by Emily Dickinson
Knows how to forget
Like Brooms of Steel (1252) by Emily Dickinson
Luck is not chance (1350) by Emily Dickinson
Luck is not chance
My life closed twice before its close (96) by Emily Dickinson
My life closed twice before its close
One day is there of the series by Emily Dickinson
One day is there of the series
One Sister have I in our house (14) by Emily Dickinson
Safe in their Alabaster Chambers (216) by Emily Dickinson
Safe in their Alabaster Chambers—
The Outlet (162) by Emily Dickinson
My river runs to thee
The Savior must have been a docile Gentleman (1487) by Emily Dickinson
The Savior must have been
The Soul selects her own Society (303) by Emily Dickinson
The Soul selects her own Society—
The Soul unto itself (683) by Emily Dickinson
The Soul unto itself
There is no frigate like a book (1263) by Emily Dickinson
There is no frigate like a book (1263)
There's a certain Slant of light (258) by Emily Dickinson
There's a certain Slant of light,
To make a prairie (1755) by Emily Dickinson
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
Two Butterflies went out at Noon— (533) by Emily Dickinson
Two Butterflies went out at Noon
We never know how high we are (1176) by Emily Dickinson
We never know how high we are
Wild Nights – Wild Nights! (249) by Emily Dickinson
Wild Nights! - Wild Nights!
Winter is good - his Hoar Delights (1316) by Emily Dickinson
Winter is good - his Hoar Delights