Lyric Poem · Nature
I tend my flowers for thee
1I tend my flowers for thee —
2Bright Absentee!
3My Fuchsia's Coral Seams
4Rip — while the Sower — dreams —
5Geraniums — tint — and spot —
6Low Daisies — dot —
7My Cactus — splits her Beard
8To show her throat —
9Carnations — tip their spice —
10And Bees — pick up —
11A Hyacinth — I hid —
12Puts out a Ruffled Head —
13And odors fall
14From flasks — so small —
15You marvel how they held —
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“I tend my flowers for thee” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/i-tend-my-flowers-for-thee
Quick facts
- Poem
- I tend my flowers for thee
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Length
- 27 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Dreams & Sleep
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
- 27 lines · 5 stanzas of 4–7 lines
- Line length
- Lines run 4-6 syllables (median 5). 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
- PoetryDBI tend my flowers for thee 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 c30126d30336fcf8…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.