‘I Died for Beauty’
A Poem by Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson/ Qalam
I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.
He questioned softly why I failed?
‘For beauty,’ I replied.
‘And I for truth, — the two are one;
We brethren are,’ he said.
And so, as kinsmen met a-night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.
Emily Dickinson (1830–86) was one of the most significant and influential figures in American poetry, often considered one of the greatest poets of all time. It may be hard to imagine, but Taylor Swift is a distant relative of hers.
