The Heart Asks Pleasure First

Emily Dickinson(1830–1886)

Poems by Emily Dickinson, 1890

The heart asks pleasure first,And then, excuse from pain;And then, those little anodynesThat deaden suffering;

And then, to go to sleep;And then, if it should beThe will of its Inquisitor,The liberty to die.

From Poems by Emily Dickinson (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.