ONE need not be a chamber to be haunted,
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.
Far safer, of a midnight meeting 5
External ghost,
Than an interior confronting
That whiter host.
Far safer through an Abbey gallop,
The stones achase, 10
Than, moonless, one’s own self encounter
In lonesome place.
Ourself, behind ourself concealed,
Should startle most;
Assassin, hid in our apartment, 15
Be horror’s least.
The prudent carries a revolver,
He bolts the door,
O’erlooking a superior spectre
More near.
She has traveled so far within the depths of the mind...it makes you want to go with her...the recesses we feel but can never quite understand, put into words, or even confront. "Ourself, behind ourself concealed"! The raw consciousness of the Self. She experiences this concept into our own understanding...the brilliant Miss Dickinson at her finest.
ReplyDeleteI came arcoss this poem watching the pilot episode or Alias Grace. It's a historical fiction novel, written by Margret Atwood, of a woman Grace Marks who was imprisoned for murder. The intro of the show was accompanied by first and last stanza of the poem.
ReplyDeleteThe poem is so fitting for a prisoner and anyone in solitary confinement. "One not need a house" to be haunted.
And how one can startle most. This might say more about me than others, but I bet most of us would startle others if they could know our darkest thoughts.