Lyric Poem · Friendship
The waters chased him as he fled
The waters chased him as he fled,
Not daring look behind —
A billow whispered in his Ear,
"Come home with me, my friend —
My parlor is of shriven glass,
My pantry has a fish
For every palate in the Year" —
To this revolting bliss
The object floating at his side
Made no distinct reply.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“The waters chased him as he fled” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/the-waters-chased-him-as-he-fled
Quick facts
- Poem
- The waters chased him as he fled
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Length
- 10 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Friendship, 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 · one 10-line stanza
- 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
- Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. 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
- PoetryDBThe waters chased him as he fled 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 d97fce617f3b577c…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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