Poems by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, CompleteDickinson, Emily
poetry · Item 260
A reason to turn the page
Death makes the ordinary insist on being noticed—why does a thimble suddenly tell a whole life?
Discovery 14 of 15XIII.
MEMORIALS.
Death sets a thing significant The eye had hurried by, Except a perished creature Entreat us tenderly
To ponder little workmanships In crayon or in wool, With "This was last her fingers did," Industrious until
The thimble weighed too heavy, The stitches stopped themselves, And then 't was put among the dust Upon the closet shelves.
A book I have, a friend gave, Whose pencil, here and there, Had notched the place that pleased him, -- At rest his fingers are.
Now, when I read, I read not, For interrupting tears Obliterate the etchings Too costly for repairs.