Rattling

Sunday Missive

Photo by Jeffrey Hamilton on Unsplash

Revolution is the pod

Emily Dickinson

1830 – 1886

Revolution is the pod
Systems rattle from;
When the winds of
Will are stirred,
Excellent is bloom.

But except its russet
Base
Every summer be
The entomber of itself;
So of Liberty.

Left inactive on the
Stalk,
All its purple fled,
Revolution shakes it
For
Test if it be dead.

---

From The Further Poems of Emily Dickinson (Little, Brown, and Company, 1929), edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi and Alfred Leete Hampson.

This poem is in the public domain.

---

Thank you for reading at the Verbihund Café!

Please help spread the word to friends, students, family, and colleagues!

• make a one-time donation

• support the love of language and learning with a paid subscription

• sign up for a free subscription

• restack this post

• forward to people you know

• share on social media