Lyric Poem · Life

Tho' I get home how late—how late

by Emily Dickinson

Tho' I get home how late — how late —

So I get home - 'twill compensate —

Better will be the Ecstasy

That they have done expecting me —

When Night — descending — dumb — and dark —

They hear my unexpected knock —

Transporting must the moment be —

Brewed from decades of Agony!

To think just how the fire will burn —

Just how long-cheated eyes will turn —

To wonder what myself will say,

And what itself, will say to me —

Beguiles the Centuries of way!

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“Tho' I get home how late—how late” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/tho-i-get-home-how-late-how-late

Quick facts

Poem: Tho' I get home how late—how late
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 13 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Life

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: 13 lines · 2 stanzas of 5–8 lines
Line length: Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).

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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: PoetryDBTho' I get home how late—how late 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 de353cbe3fb928da…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Life

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