Date: c. 1862

"After great pain, a formal feeling comes -- / The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs -- / The stiff Heart questions 'was it He, that bore,' / And 'Yesterday, or Centuries before'?"

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1867

"This book by any yet unread, / I leave for you when I am dead, / That being gone, here you may find / What was your living mother's mind."

— Bradstreet, Anne (1612-1672)

Date: Late Autumn, 1882

"A letter always seemed to me like Immortality, for is it not the mind alone, without corporeal friend?"

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1890

"Imps in eager caucus / Raffle for my  soul."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1890

"I've known her from an ample nation / Choose one; / Then close the valves of her attention / Like stone."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1890

"To fight aloud is very brave, / But gallanter, I know, / Who charge within the bosom, / The cavalry of woe."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1890

"The brain within its groove / Runs evenly and true."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1890

"Have you got a brook in your little heart, / Where bashful flowers blow, / And blushing birds go down to drink, / And shadows tremble so?"

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1890

"The wizard-fingers never rest, / The purple brook within the breast / Still chafes its narrow bed."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1890

"We noticed smallest things, / Things overlooked before, / By this great light upon our  minds / Italicized, as 't were."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)