“Because I Could Not Stop For Death” by Emily Dickinson (1890) – Anthology & Interpretation

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed us –
The Dews drew quivering and chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – ‘tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity –

Tomorrow is inevitable-
Unless, by some freak of nature, the world
Were to instantaneously combust.
We continue forward in hope that tomorrow

Will suck a little bit less.
Living in the now has become 
Painful, a dream-like memory that feels
too distant to grasp.

Is it still possible to live for the living
instead of the dead?
We see so many promises to the
end of our future.

With our feet crack from the long walk- 
Take a moment to pause.
Think about the choices we made- 
The consequences,
Our lives.

At the end of our last breath, 
The summation of our past becomes
Nothing to us-
But serves as a catapult for
The next generation to use.

Are we ready when death finally creeps along?
As we join in the pilgrimage to eternity.

We hope to pass along our strengths,
But what if we pass only weakness
To the generations we leave behind?

To join in the pilgrimage of eternity, we 
Leave a legacy our ancestors look up to. 
They will hear about the movements,
The struggles, the songs, the dances.
They will also see how we lived- 

Were we pharaohs who lived to die-
Or were we people of community, who lived to
Grow from the roots the past already developed,
Neighbors who lived not solely on their own ingenuity,
but on the understanding of others.

Will they see people will ing to
die to the dark and live for the light?

Let our lives be continuous.