Lyric Poem · Love

Going to Him! Happy letter!

by Emily Dickinson

Tell Him —

Tell Him the page I didn't write —

Tell Him — I only said the Syntax —

And left the Verb and the pronoun out —

Tell Him just how the fingers hurried —

Then — how they waded — slow — slow —

And then you wished you had eyes in your pages —

So you could see what moved them so —

Tell Him — it wasn't a Practised Writer —

You guessed — from the way the sentence toiled —

You could hear the Bodice tug, behind you —

As if it held but the might of a child —

You almost pitied it — you — it worked so —

Tell Him — no — you may quibble there —

For it would split His Heart, to know it —

And then you and I, were silenter.

Tell Him — Night finished — before we finished —

And the Old Clock kept neighing "Day"!

And you — got sleepy — and begged to be ended —

What could it hinder so — to say?

Tell Him — just how she sealed you — Cautious!

But — if He ask where you are hid

Until tomorrow — Happy letter!

Gesture Coquette — and shake your Head!

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“Going to Him! Happy letter!” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/going-to-him-happy-letter

Quick facts

Poem: Going to Him! Happy letter!
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 25 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Love, Childhood

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: 25 lines · 3 stanzas of 8–9 lines
End rhyme: No regular perfect end rhyme. The poem may still be using slant rhyme, assonance, or internal echo, which this check does not score.
Line length: Lines run 7-10 syllables (median 9). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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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: PoetryDBGoing to Him! Happy letter! 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 3d9146b0c7bf95db…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Love Childhood

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