Презревшись грудью той,
хоть режет чернотой,
чьей снесть душе?
Вняв строгий её свет,
как мне подделать цвет,
что бел уже!
(Вот здесь без Приста не разобраться.)
[David Preest:
Emily is unworthy of some woman who judges others so
severely that she regards even Emily’s ‘white’ as a sham.
The woman may by Sue or Kate Anthon. The ‘white’ may
be literally Emily’s habitual dress of white but also a metaphor
for Emily’s essential innocence and goodness, which the
woman regards as put on. A sentence in a letter of 1859 to
Kate Anthon may be relevant to this poem. Emily says to her,
‘[In your absence] I hold your black in strong hallowed remembrance,
and trust my colours to you are tints slightly beloved (L209).’]
***************************************
Unworthy of her Breast by Emily Dickinson
Unworthy of her Breast
Though by that scathing test
What Soul survive?
By her exacting light
How counterfeit the white
We chiefly have!