jan 16, 1863 - "I tie my Hat - I crease my Shawl - "
Description:
I tie my Hat - I crease my Shawl -
Life's little duties do - precisely -
As the very least
Were infinite - to me -
I put new Blossoms in the Glass -
And throw the Old - away -
I push a petal from my Gown
That anchored there - I weigh
The time 'twill be till six o'clock -
So much I have to do -
And yet - existence - some way back -
Stopped - struck - my ticking - through -
We cannot put Ourself away
As a completed Man
Or Woman - When the errand's done
We may come to Flesh - upon -
There may be - Miles on Miles of Nought -
Of Action - sicker far -
To simulate - is stinging work -
To cover what we are
From Science - and from Surgery -
Too Telescopic eyes
To bear on us unshaded -
For their - sake - Not for Ours -
Therefore - we do life's labor -
Though life's Reward - be done -
With scrupulous exactness -
To hold our Senses - on -
This poem--one of Dickinson's longest--expresses an oblique connection to the hat factories in town. However, it is a somewhat depressed view on the labor of life, despite how "precisely" DIckinson may carry it out.
Added to timeline:
Emily Dickinson & Manufacturing in Amherst
Date:
