“Some keep the Sabbath” is a poem about accessing faith outside the walls of a church.The poem demonstrates Dickinson’s keen interest in both the natural world and Christianity, with a touch of her characteristic wit.
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church –
I keep it, staying at Home –
With a Bobolink for a Chorister –
And an Orchard, for a Dome –
Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice –
I, just wear my Wings –
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton – sings.
God preaches, a noted Clergyman –
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last –
I’m going, all along.
Fr 236
Emily Dickinson, Fr 236, The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition, ed. R.W. Franklin (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999), 106.
Courtesy of Houghton Library, Harvard University
