Freeverse
Public-domain poetry, pleasantly readable
Non omnis moriar

I know some lonely houses off the road

by Emily Dickinson · Explore poems

  1. I know some lonely houses off the road
  2. A robber 'd like the look of, --
  3. Wooden barred,
  4. And windows hanging low,
  5. Inviting to
  6. A portico,
  7. Where two could creep:
  8. One hand the tools,
  9. The other peep
  10. To make sure all's asleep.
  11. Old-fashioned eyes,
  12. Not easy to surprise!
  13.  
  14. How orderly the kitchen 'd look by night,
  15. With just a clock, --
  16. But they could gag the tick,
  17. And mice won't bark;
  18. And so the walls don't tell,
  19. None will.
  20.  
  21. A pair of spectacles ajar just stir --
  22. An almanac's aware.
  23. Was it the mat winked,
  24. Or a nervous star?
  25. The moon slides down the stair
  26. To see who's there.
  27.  
  28. There's plunder, -- where?
  29. Tankard, or spoon,
  30. Earring, or stone,
  31. A watch, some ancient brooch
  32. To match the grandmamma,
  33. Staid sleeping there.
  34.  
  35. Day rattles, too,
  36. Stealth's slow;
  37. The sun has got as far
  38. As the third sycamore.
  39. Screams chanticleer,
  40. "Who's there?"
  41. And echoes, trains away,
  42. Sneer -- "Where?"
  43. While the old couple, just astir,
  44. Fancy the sunrise left the door ajar!

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