I dwell in Possibility
by Emily Dickinson
I dwell in Possibility –
A fairer House than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –
Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of eye –
And for an everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky –
Of Visitors – the fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise –
I found myself quoting the opening line of this one to Sophie, who is on a Dickinson kick with me. I couldn’t remember the rest of the poem and so had to look it up.
Exquisite!
This led to a reverie involving the aria ‘I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls’ and the opening line of du Maurier’s novel Rebecca. Back to the poem- I love the last stanza especially.
Oh I love those connections, I definitely see how you drift from one to the next. Enya’s version of Marble Halls was once on continuous play in my dorm room, it’s such a haunting song. And then I love how you connect that with the opening of Rebecca, too.
And yes, that last stanza catches my breath every time.
For me the connection I make is to the final stanza of Oliver Wendell Holmes’ The Chambered Nautilis:
“Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!”
I find myself returning to this post and poem again and again –
thank you!
Oh that makes me so happy to hear!