The Wife
Public domain. Originally published 1890. Reproduced here in full.
She rose to his requirement, dropped
The playthings of her life
To take the honorable work
Of woman and of wife.
If aught she missed in her new day
Of amplitude, or awe,
Or first prospective, or the gold
In using wore away,
It lay unmentioned, as the sea
Develops pearl and weed,
But only to himself is known
The fathoms they abide.
This poem is taken from Poems by Emily Dickinson, edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and T.W. Higginson, first published 1890 by Roberts Brothers, Boston, p. 64. The title was assigned by the editors. The text is in the public domain. This text was transcribed directly from a scan of the 1890 first edition and may contain transcription errors. If you notice any, please contact us.
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