One Dignity Delays for All

Emily Dickinson(1830–1886)

1890

One dignity delays for all,One mitred afternoon.None can avoid this purple,None evade this crown.

Coach it insures, and footmen,Chamber and state and throng;Bells, also, in the village,As we ride grand along.

What dignified attendants,What service when we pause!How loyally at partingTheir hundred hats they raise!

How pomp surpassing ermine,When simple you and IPresent our meek escutcheon,And claim the rank to die!

From Poems (1890), via the English Wikisource transcription.

Public domainThis poem is in the public domain. You may read it, copy it, recite it and publish it without asking anyone.