Lyric Poem · Nature

Perhaps you'd like to buy a flower

by Emily Dickinson

Perhaps you'd like to buy a flower,

But I could never sell —

If you would like to borrow,

Until the Daffodil

Unties her yellow Bonnet

Beneath the village door,

Until the Bees, from Clover rows

Their Hock, and Sherry, draw,

Why, I will lend until just then,

But not an hour more!

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“Perhaps you'd like to buy a flower” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/perhaps-youd-like-to-buy-a-flower

Quick facts

Poem: Perhaps you'd like to buy a flower
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 10 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Spring, Short

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: 10 lines · 3 stanzas of 2–4 lines
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

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: PoetryDBPerhaps you'd like to buy a flower 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 19a20d6613fa591c…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Nature Spring Short

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