A wounded deer leaps highest
Emily Dickinson · 1890
Public domain
From Poems by Emily Dickinson, published in 1890. The text is free of copyright in the United States. This copy is the poem, without the Project Gutenberg header.
A wounded deer leaps highest,
I've heard the hunter tell;
'T is but the ecstasy of death,
And then the brake is still.
The smitten rock that gushes,
The trampled steel that springs;
A cheek is always redder
Just where the hectic stings!
Mirth is the mail of anguish,
In which it cautions arm,
Lest anybody spy the blood
And "You're hurt" exclaim!