Lyric Poem · Love
Rearrange a "Wife's" affection!
Rearrange a "Wife's" affection!
When they dislocate my Brain!
Amputate my freckled Bosom!
Make me bearded like a man!
Blush, my spirit, in thy Fastness —
Blush, my unacknowledged clay —
Seven years of troth have taught thee
More than Wifehood every may!
Love that never leaped its socket —
Trust entrenched in narrow pain —
Constancy thro' fire — awarded —
Anguish — bare of anodyne!
Burden — borne so far triumphant —
None suspect me of the crown,
For I wear the "Thorns" till Sunset —
Then — my Diadem put on.
Big my Secret but it's bandaged —
It will never get away
Till the Day its Weary Keeper
Leads it through the Grave to thee.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Rearrange a "Wife's" affection!” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/rearrange-a-wifes-affection
Quick facts
- Poem
- Rearrange a "Wife's" affection!
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Length
- 20 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Love, 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
- 20 lines · 5 quatrains
- Line length
- Lines run 7-8 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
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
- PoetryDBRearrange a "Wife's" affection! 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 713a0b766a659c0e…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
Keep reading
Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
William Shakespeare · 1609
14 lines · sonnet
Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds
William Shakespeare · 1609
14 lines · sonnet
Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
William Shakespeare · 1609
14 lines · sonnet