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Emily Dickinson's Collected Poems

Part Three: Nature 11. Pigmy seraphs gone astray

MY ROSE.


Pigmy seraphs gone astray,

Velvet people from Vevay,

Belles from some lost summer day,

Bees' exclusive coterie.

Paris could not lay the fold

Belted down with emerald;

Venice could not show a cheek

Of a tint so lustrous meek.

Never such an ambuscade

As of brier and leaf displayed

For my little damask maid.

I had rather wear her grace

Than an earl's distinguished face;

I had rather dwell like her

Than be Duke of Exeter

Royalty enough for me

To subdue the bumble-bee!