Emily Dickinson

Dec. 10, 1830 - May 15, 1886

 

Emancipation

by Emily Dickinson

No rack can torture me,
My soul's at liberty.
Behind this mortal bone
There knits a bolder one

You cannot prick with saw,
Nor rend with scymitar.
Two bodies therefore be;
Bind one, and one will flee.

The eagle of his nest
No easier divest
And gain the sky,
Than mayest thou,

Except thyself may be
Thine enemy;
Captivity is consciousness,
So is liberty.

Source:

Poems
Copyright 1890
Little, Brown, And Company, Boston