Lyric Poem · Peace

Except the Heaven had come so near

by Emily Dickinson

Except the Heaven had come so near —

So seemed to choose My Door —

The Distance would not haunt me so —

I had not hoped — before —

But just to hear the Grace depart —

I never thought to see —

Afflicts me with a Double loss —

'Tis lost — and lost to me —

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“Except the Heaven had come so near” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/except-the-heaven-had-come-so-near

Quick facts

Poem: Except the Heaven had come so near
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 8 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes: Peace, Hope, Short

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 8 lines · 2 quatrains
End rhyme: ABCB in every stanza — ballad rhyme — only lines 2 and 4 chime.
Line length: Consistent with common metre. Alternating eight- and six-syllable lines — the hymn stanza (8.6.8.6), the most-used quatrain in English verse.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Emily Dickinson1830–1886
Source record: PoetryDBExcept the Heaven had come so near by emily-dickinson, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 0cf7cd26db5a4f7c…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Peace Hope Short

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