dots-menu
×

Home  »  The Complete Poems  »  CXXXI

Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924.

Part One: Life

CXXXI

WHO never wanted,—maddest joy

Remains to him unknown;

The banquet of abstemiousness

Surpasses that of wine.

Within its hope, though yet ungrasped

Desire’s perfect goal,

No nearer, lest reality

Should disenthrall thy soul.