"Жена" я... Прожита
такая стать.
Царица я, "жена",
спокойней так.
Девичья странна жизнь,
входя в сей тихий мрак --
Пожалуй, что Земля -
родным в Раю - вот так...
Спокойнее... Так знать,
тот был больнее путь...
И с чем равнять?
"Жена"! Так пусть!
[David Preest:
Emily imagines that she is married to her Master,
a full woman now with the power of a Czar. An eclipse
has occurred of her former life as an unmarried girl,
but it is ‘soft’ rather than traumatic and is like being
in heaven after life on earth. She ends with a cry
of triumph, but of course it is all in her imagination,
as she envisages what married life with Samuel Bowles
might have been after Sue’s coldness.]
*****************************************************
I'm "wife" -- I've finished that by Emily Dickinson
I'm "wife" -- I've finished that --
That other state --
I'm Czar -- I'm "Woman" now --
It's safer so --
How odd the Girl's life looks
Behind this soft Eclipse --
I think that Earth feels so
To folks in Heaven -- now --
This being comfort -- then
That other kind -- was pain --
But why compare?
I'm "Wife"! Stop there!