Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

This Chasm, Sweet, upon my life

by Emily Dickinson

I mention it to you,

When Sunrise through a fissure drop

The Day must follow too.

If we demur, its gaping sides

Disclose as 'twere a Tomb

Ourself am lying straight wherein

The Favorite of Doom.

When it has just contained a Life

Then, Darling, it will close

And yet so bolder every Day

So turbulent it grows

I'm tempted half to stitch it up

With a remaining Breath

I should not miss in yielding, though

To Him, it would be Death —

And so I bear it big about

My Burial — before

A Life quite ready to depart

Can harass me no more —

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“This Chasm, Sweet, upon my life” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/this-chasm-sweet-upon-my-life

Quick facts

Poem: This Chasm, Sweet, upon my life
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 20 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: 20 lines · 5 quatrains
End rhyme: ABCB in 80% of the stanzas — ballad rhyme — only lines 2 and 4 chime. The remaining stanzas vary, often through slant rhyme.
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: PoetryDBThis Chasm, Sweet, upon my life 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 cd5461bc2b9000c5…
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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