DAWN.

June 23, 2007 in Life, Poems | No comments

DAWN.When night is almost done,
And sunrise grows so near
That we can touch the spaces,
It ’s time to smooth the hair

And get the dimples ready,
And wonder we could care
For that old faded midnight
That frightened but an hour.

Dickinson shows herself here to be a keen observer of the transience of fear and suffering, that what seems impossible to survive one moment can be swept away so quickly by the promise of dawn.

Yet there’s a sense that this sudden courage is a mask–we “smooth the hair” and “get the dimples ready”, put on outward signs of cheer and composure to hide the terror that held us just a short time ago and will no doubt hold as again, once “old faded midnight” freshens up again.