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.

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306 The Soul’s Superior instants Occur to Her—alone— When friend—and Earth’s occasion Have infinite withdrawn—

192 Poor little Heart! Did they forget thee? Then dinna care! Then dinna care! Proud little Heart!

136 Have you got a Brook in your litt… Where bashful flowers blow, And blushing birds go down to drin… And shadows tremble so—

221 It can’t be “Summer”! That—got through! It’s early—yet—for “Spring”! There’s that long town of White—t…

Lightly stepped a yellow star To its lofty place - Loosed the Moon her silver hat From her lustral Face - All of Evening softly lit

We play at paste, Till qualified for pearl, Then drop the paste, And deem ourself a fool. The shapes, though, were similar,

69 Low at my problem bending, Another problem comes— Larger than mine—Serener— Involving statelier sums.

A Wind that rose Though not a Leaf In any Forest stirred But with itself did cold engage Beyond the Realm of Bird -

544 The Martyr Poets—did not tell— But wrought their Pang in syllabl… That when their mortal name be num… Their mortal fate—encourage Some—

I like to see it lap the miles, And lick the valleys up, And stop to feed itself at tanks; And then, prodigious, step Around a pile of mountains,

42 A Day! Help! Help! Another Day! Your prayers, oh Passer by! From such a common ball as this Might date a Victory!

635 I think the longest Hour of all Is when the Cars have come— And we are waiting for the Coach— It seems as though the Time

92 My friend must be a Bird’— Because it flies! Mortal, my friend must be, Because it dies!

1763 Fame is a bee. It has a song— It has a sting— Ah, too, it has a wing.

338 I know that He exists. Somewhere—in Silence— He has hid his rare life From our gross eyes.