Witchy & Weird Poem of the Week: Emily Dickinson’s Poem [629]

Here the Moon-Birds will sacrifice to you, our readers, a weekly poem which has caught our eye(s)—poems which invoke, in whatever way, witchy-ness, spooky-ness, the sacred feminine, the mysterious, or the otherworldly. 

*

I told you Emily Dickinson would return–she’s me soul mate. Today we turn to our hymnals on the topic of the moon (a lady), again this is taken from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (Little, Brown, and Company. 1960):

 

[629]

I watched the Moon around the House
Until upon a Pane—
She stopped—a Traveller’s privilege—for Rest—
And there upon

I gazed—as at a stranger—
The Lady in the Town
Doth think no incivility
To lift her Glass—upon—

But never Stranger justified
The Curiosity
Like Mine—for not a Foot—nor Hand—
Nor Formula—had she—

But like a Head—a Guillotine
Slid carelessly away—
Did independent, Amber—
Sustain her in the sky—

Or like a Stemless Flower—
Upheld in rolling Air
By finer Gravitations—
Than bind Philosopher—

No Hunger—had she—nor an Inn—
Her Toilette—to suffice—
Nor Avocation—nor Concern
For little Mysteries

As harass us—like Life—and Death—
And Afterwards—or Nay—
But seemed engrossed to Absolute—
With shining—and the Sky—

The privilege to scrutinize
Was scarce upon my Eyes
When, with a Silver practise—
She vaulted out of Gaze—

And next—I met her on a Cloud—
Myself too far below
To follow her superior Road—
Or its advantage—Blue—

 

Emily Dickinson’s Poems: As She Preserved Them is still wonderful, and you should still buy it: available on IndieBound and Amazon.

 

For further reading:

Academy of American Poets

Poetry Foundation

 

Wickedly Yours,

Baba Yaga

Follow me on Twitter: @abitunsettling

 

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