IMPASSE

Bereaved of all, I went abroad,
No less bereaved to be
Upon a new peninsula--
The Grave preceded me

--Dickinson

I bought The New Principles outright.
New costumes did I don

& even saw by the new light
that from those first skies shone.

Thus here am I: In a new land

--A continent so new
th'leaves at Noon have still not shed
their necklaces of dew.

Only one gloss has followed me
across th'drink of dusk:

Th'Grave! with its same gaudery
& fiendish arabesque

--Otherwise, Home endures (as long
as he that dwells inside
remains decently satisfied

he can there-in hide,

for when The Worlds discover
a method of approach
elsewhere he'll run for cover

like a roach).