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Lyric Poem · Life

Expanse cannot be lost

by Emily Dickinson

1Expanse cannot be lost —

2Not Joy, but a Decree

3Is Deity —

4His Scene, Infinity —

5Whose rumor's Gate was shut so tight

6Before my Beam was sown,

7Not even a Prognostic's push

8Could make a Dent thereon —

9The World that thou hast opened

10Shuts for thee,

11But not alone,

12We all have followed thee —

13Escape more slowly

14To thy Tracts of Sheen —

15The Tent is listening,

16But the Troops are gone!

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Quick facts

Poem
Expanse cannot be lost
Poet
Emily Dickinson
Length
16 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Life

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
16 lines · 2 octaves
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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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
PoetryDBExpanse cannot be lost 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 5818a3ac1b5fc640
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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