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After Great Pain A Formal Feeling Comes, By: Emily Dickinson

October 8, 2026 by Editors

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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?

The feet mechanical go round
A wooden way
Of ground or air or Ought,
Regardless grown,
A quartz contentment like a stone.

This is the hour of lead
Remembered if outlived
As freezing persons recollect
The snow—
First chill, then stupor, then
The letting go.

Read all of Emily Dickinson's poems · About Emily Dickinson

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