Page:The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson (1924).pdf/119

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FRIENDS AND BOOKS
87

her pencilled messages, among which are the few quoted at random:

Great hungers feed themselves but little hungers ail in vain.

Never mind, dear, trial as a stimulus far exceeds wine though it could hardly be prohibited as a beverage.

A promise is firmer than a hope. Hope never knew horizon. Awe is the first hand that is held to us. Hopelessness in its first film had not life to last. That would close the spirit, and no intercession could do that. Intimacy with mystery after great space will usurp its place. Moving on in the dark like loaded boats at night, though there is no course, there is boundlessness. Expanse cannot be lost.

Morning might come by accident, Sister,
Night comes by event—
To believe the final line of the card
Would foreclose Faith,
Faith is doubt, Sister.
Show me Eternity, and
I will show you memory—
Both in one package lain
And lifted back again.
Be Sue while I am Emily,
Be next what you have ever been—
Infinity.