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Emily Dickinson's Collected Poems

Part One: Life 64. He preached upon "breadth" till it argued him narrow

THE PREACHER.


He preached upon "breadth" till it argued him narrow, --

The broad are too broad to define;

And of "truth" until it proclaimed him a liar, --

The truth never flaunted a sign.


Simplicity fled from his counterfeit presence

As gold the pyrites would shun.

What confusion would cover the innocent Jesus

To meet so enabled a man!