Emily Dickinson

Dec. 10, 1830 - May 15, 1886

 

The heart asks pleasure first...

by Emily Dickinson

The heart asks pleasure first,
And then, excuse from pain
And then, those little anodynes
That deaden suffering;

And then, to go to sleep;
And then, if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor,
The liberty to die.

Source:

Poems
Copyright 1890
Little, Brown, And Company, Boston