Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

My wheel is in the dark!

by Emily Dickinson

I cannot see a spoke

Yet know its dripping feet

Go round and round.

My foot is on the Tide!

An unfrequented road —

Yet have all roads

A clearing at the end —

Some have resigned the Loom —

Some in the busy tomb

Find quaint employ —

Some with new — stately feet —

Pass royal through the gate —

Flinging the problem back

At you and I!

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“My wheel is in the dark!” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/my-wheel-is-in-the-dark

Quick facts

Poem: My wheel is in the dark!
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 15 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Death & Loss

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: 15 lines · 4 stanzas of 3–4 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: Mostly 6-syllable lines (trimeter length).

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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: PoetryDBMy wheel is in the dark! 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 4b25b6287fa20d09…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Death & Loss

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