Poems: Second Series (Dickinson)/Old-Fashioned
136 POEMS.
XX.
OLD-FASHIONED.
A RCTURUS is his other name,
I'd rather call him star!
It's so unkind of science
To go and interfere!
I pull a flower from the woods,
A monster with a glass
Computes the stamens in a breath,
And has her in a class.
Whereas I took the butterfly
Aforetime in my hat,
He sits erect in cabinets,
The clover-bells forgot.
What once was heaven, is zenith now.
Where I proposed to go
When time's brief masquerade was done,
Is mapped, and charted too!
What if the poles should frisk about
And stand upon their heads!
I hope I 'm ready for the worst,
Whatever prank betides!
Perhaps the kingdom of Heaven 's changed!
I hope the children there
Won't be new-fashioned when I come,
And laugh at me, and stare!
I hope the father in the skies
Will lift his little girl, -
Old-fashioned, naughty, everything, -
Over the stile of pearl!