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Non omnis moriar

I dreaded that first robin so,

by Emily Dickinson · Explore poems

  1. I dreaded that first robin so,
  2. But he is mastered now,
  3. And I 'm accustomed to him grown, --
  4. He hurts a little, though.
  5.  
  6. I thought if I could only live
  7. Till that first shout got by,
  8. Not all pianos in the woods
  9. Had power to mangle me.
  10.  
  11. I dared not meet the daffodils,
  12. For fear their yellow gown
  13. Would pierce me with a fashion
  14. So foreign to my own.
  15.  
  16. I wished the grass would hurry,
  17. So when 't was time to see,
  18. He 'd be too tall, the tallest one
  19. Could stretch to look at me.
  20.  
  21. I could not bear the bees should come,
  22. I wished they 'd stay away
  23. In those dim countries where they go:
  24. What word had they for me?
  25.  
  26. They 're here, though; not a creature failed,
  27. No blossom stayed away
  28. In gentle deference to me,
  29. The Queen of Calvary.
  30.  
  31. Each one salutes me as he goes,
  32. And I my childish plumes
  33. Lift, in bereaved acknowledgment
  34. Of their unthinking drums.

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