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Lyric Poem · Nature

We should not mind so small a flower

by Emily Dickinson

We should not mind so small a flower —

Except it quiet bring

Our little garden that we lost

Back to the Lawn again.

So spicy her Carnations nod —

So drunken, reel her Bees —

So silver steal a hundred flutes

From out a hundred trees —

That whoso sees this little flower

By faith may clear behold

The Bobolinks around the throne

And Dandelions gold.

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Quick facts

Poem
We should not mind so small a flower
Poet
Emily Dickinson
Length
12 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Nature

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
12 lines · 3 quatrains
Line length
Lines run 6-9 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. 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
PoetryDBWe should not mind so small 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 10d97d4a0b2022d1
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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