"Called Back"

(Inscription on Emily Dickinson's tombstone)

We came-a Century or so

Too late-to find you Home-

We paced your Father's House- We viewed

The Tokens that your Room

Exhibits- chief, the single Dress

Cased Head to Foot in Glass-

Demurely White and Cassock-like -

Its Buttons quaint to us-

Then went Outside-an easy Walk

To where your Kin conveyed

Your Quiet Form-whose Pilgrimage

Required their Parade-

Now we-who looked to find you Here-

Are once again reproved-

Your Granite Placard curtly hints

How far Away you've moved-

Gray Words hemmed by an Iron Fence-

Latticed-by mighty Trees-

Your Postscript to the World declares

How Potent Absence is