if he should die while I was gone

Though battered and subdued, the heart still lives -- and loves, loves this poem by Emily Dickinson and what David Sylvian has done with it in his new album.

If there's a name for shattering beauty, this is it.


I Should Not Dare by Samadhisound



I SHOULD NOT DARE TO LEAVE MY FRIEND

I should not dare to leave my friend,
Because—because if he should die
While I was gone, and I—too late—
Should reach the heart that wanted me;

If I should disappoint the eyes
That hunted, hunted so, to see,
And could not bear to shut until
They “noticed” me—they noticed me;

If I should stab the patient faith
So sure I ’d come—so sure I ’d come,
It listening, listening, went to sleep
Telling my tardy name,—

My heart would wish it broke before,
Since breaking then, since breaking then,
Were useless as next morning’s sun,
Where midnight frosts had lain!


--Emily Dickinson, from The Complete Poems, Part Four: Time and Eternity, LXXVI.