Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

I'm sorry for the Dead—Today

by Emily Dickinson

I'm sorry for the Dead — Today —

It's such congenial times

Old Neighbors have at fences —

It's time o' year for Hay.

And Broad — Sunburned Acquaintance

Discourse between the Toil —

And laugh, a homely species

That makes the Fences smile —

It seems so straight to lie away

From all of the noise of Fields —

The Busy Carts — the fragrant Cocks —

The Mower's Metre — Steals —

A Trouble lest they're homesick —

Those Farmers — and their Wives —

Set separate from the Farming —

And all the Neighbors' lives —

A Wonder if the Sepulchre

Don't feel a lonesome way —

When Men — and Boys — and Carts — and June,

Go down the Fields to "Hay" —

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“I'm sorry for the Dead—Today” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/im-sorry-for-the-dead-today

Quick facts

Poem: I'm sorry for the Dead—Today
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 20 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Death & Loss, Summer, Nature

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: 20 lines · 5 quatrains
Line length: Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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Text, source & rights

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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'm sorry for the Dead—Today 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 cdbd77de83eaebd1…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Death & Loss Summer Nature

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