Day 6

 

Here’s Day 6 of your Emily Dickinson practice.

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Poem 1

“Success is counted sweetest” (Fr112, J67)

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory –

As he defeated – dying –
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!

Note: Success is sharpest in its absence. Dickinson contrasts the triumphant with the dying soldier who, because he has failed, hears victory’s music most clearly. Success here is a paradox: most fully felt by those without it.

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Poem 2

“The Soul selects her own Society –” (Fr409, J303)

The Soul selects her own Society –
Then – shuts the Door –
To her divine Majority –
Present no more –

Unmoved – she notes the Chariots – pausing –
At her low Gate –
Unmoved – an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat –

I’ve known her – from an ample nation –
Choose One –
Then – close the Valves of her attention –
Like Stone –

Note: Dickinson shows the soul’s sovereignty. Once it chooses, all pomp—emperors, chariots—falls away. The final “Valves of her attention” closing like stone conveys both strength and isolation.

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Poem 3

“There came a Day at Summer’s full” (Fr325, J322)

There came a Day at Summer’s full,
Entirely for me –
I thought that such were for the Saints,
Where Resurrections – be –

The Sun, as common, went abroad,
The flowers, accustomed, blew,
As if no soul that solstice passed
Had paradise to do –

The time was scarce profaned, by speech –
The symbol of a word
Was needless, as at Sacrament,
The Wardrobe – of our Lord –

Each was to each The Sealed Church,
Permitted to commune this – time –
Lest we too awkward show
At Supper of the Lamb.

Note: A rare, mystical ecstasy. Dickinson describes an ordinary summer day transfigured—like a private resurrection. The ordinary (sun, flowers) continues unchanged, yet for her, it is sacramental.

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✨ Practice suggestion:
Read all three, then hold them side by side: defeat, choice, and transfiguration. Ask yourself: Where in my life is “success” sharpest by absence? Where does my soul choose alone? When has an ordinary day opened into sacrament?