Did life's penurious length
Did life's penurious length Italicize its sweetness, The men that daily live Would stand so deep in joy That it would clog the cogs Of that revolving reason Whose esoteric belt Protects our sanity.
Emily Dickinson
Did life's penurious length Italicize its sweetness, The men that daily live Would stand so deep in joy That it would clog the cogs Of that revolving reason Whose esoteric belt Protects our sanity.
Dickinson imagines what would happen if the shortness of life actually made us feel its sweetness more sharply. In her hands, this isn’t a sentimental thought; it’s a mechanical near-disaster. If we really stood “so deep in joy,” the pure intensity would gum up the works of reason.
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