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The Goal, By: Emily Dickinson

October 4, 2026 by Editors

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Each life converges to some centre
Expressed or still;
Exists in every human nature
A goal,

Admitted scarcely to itself, it may be,
Too fair
For credibility’s temerity
To dare.

Adored with caution, as a brittle heaven,
To reach
Were hopeless as the rainbow’s raiment
To touch,

Yet persevered toward, surer for the distance;
How high
Unto the saints’ slow diligence
The sky!

Ungained, it may be, by a life’s low venture,
But then,
Eternity enables the endeavoring
Again.

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

More by Emily Dickinson

  • The Grass
  • The Grave My Little Cottage Is
  • The Hemlock
  • The Humming-Bird
  • The Inevitable

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