Death
Emily Dickinson · 1896
Public domain
From Poems by Emily Dickinson, published in 1896. The text is free of copyright in the United States. This copy is the poem, without the Project Gutenberg header.
Death is like the insect
Menacing the tree,
Competent to kill it,
But decoyed may be.
Bait it with the balsam,
Seek it with the knife,
Baffle, if it cost you
Everything in life.
Then, if it have burrowed
Out of reach of skill,
Ring the tree and leave it, --
'T is the vermin's will.