Emily Dickinson

Dec. 10, 1830 - May 15, 1886

 

From The Chrysalis

by Emily Dickinson

My cocoon tightens, colors tease,
I'm feeling for the air;
A dim capacity for wings
Degrades the dress I wear.

A power of butterfly must be
The aptitude to fly,
Meadows of majesty concedes
And easy sweeps of sky.

So I must baffle at the hint
And cipher at the sign,
And make much blunder, if at last
I take the clew divine.

Source:

Poems
Copyright 1890
Little, Brown, And Company, Boston