Saturday, January 28, 2023

124(s) by Emily Dickinson


There are five different versions of this poem. How do the changes affect their meanings?

I.

Safe in their Alabaster Chambers -
Untouched by morning -
And untouched by noon -
Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection,
Rafter of Satin and Roof of Stone.

II.

Safe in their Alabaster Chambers -
Untouched by morning -
And untouched by noon -
Lie the meek members of the Resurrection,
Rafter of Satin and Roof of Stone -

Light laughs the breeze
In her Castle above them -
Babbles the Bee in a stolid Ear,
Pipe the sweet Birds in ignorant cadence -
Ah, what sagacity perished here!

III.

Safe in their Alabaster Chambers -
Untouched by morning -
And untouched by noon -
Lie the meek members of the Resurrection,
Rafter of Satin and Roof of Stone -

Grand go the Years,
In the Crescent above them -
Worlds scoop their Arcs -
And Firmaments - row -
Diadems - drop -
And Doges - surrender -
Soundless as Dots,
On a Disc of Snow.

IV.

Safe in their Alabaster Chambers -
Untouched by morning -
And untouched by noon -
Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection,
Rafter of Satin and Roof of Stone -

Springs - shake the Sills -
But - the Echoes - stiffen -
Hoar - is the Window - and numb - the door -
Tribes of Eclipse - in Tents of Marble -
Staples of Ages - have buckled - there -

V.

Safe in their Alabaster Chambers -
Untouched by morning -
And untouched by noon -
Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection,
Rafter of Satin and Roof of Stone -

Springs - shakes the seals -
But the silence - stiffens -
Frosts unhook - in the Northern Zones -
Icicles - crawl from polar Caverns -
Midnight in Marble - 
Refutes - the Suns -

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