I Stepped From Plank to Plank, by Emily Dickinson

I Stepped From Plank to Plank

I stepped from plank to plank

So slow and cautiously;

The stars about my head I felt,

About my feet the sea.

I knew not but the next

Would be my final inch,—

This gave me that precarious gait

Some call experience.

516 Beauty—be not caused—It Is— Chase it, and it ceases— Chase it not, and it abides— Overtake the Creases

844 Spring is the Period Express from God. Among the other seasons Himself abide,

534 We see—Comparatively— The Thing so towering high We could not grasp its segment Unaided—Yesterday—

105 To hang our head—ostensibly— And subsequent, to find That such was not the posture Of our immortal mind—

There is no Silence in the Earth… As that endured Which uttered, would discourage N… And haunt the World.

The Savior must have been A docile Gentleman— To come so far so cold a Day For little Fellowmen— The Road to Bethlehem

Lives he in any other world My faith cannot reply Before it was imperative ’Twas all distinct to me -

Death is like the insect Menacing the tree, Competent to kill it, But decoyed may be. Bait it with the balsam,

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

51 I often passed the village When going home from school— And wondered what they did there— And why it was so still—

The grave my little cottage is, Where 'Keeping house’ for thee I make my parlor orderly And lay the marble tea. For two divided, briefly,

A little road not made of man, Enabled of the eye, Accessible to thill of bee, Or cart of butterfly. If town it have, beyond itself,

421 A Charm invests a face Imperfectly beheld— The Lady dare not lift her Veil For fear it be dispelled—

III SOUL, wilt thou toss again? By just such a hazard Hundreds have lost, indeed, But tens have won an all.

725 Where Thou art—that—is Home— Cashmere—or Calvary—the same— Degree—or Shame— I scarce esteem Location’s Name—