Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

Emily Dickinson

867

Escaping backward to perceive
The Sea upon our place—
Escaping forward, to confront
His glittering Embrace—

Retreating up, a Billow’s height
Retreating blinded down
Our undermining feet to meet
Instructs to the Divine.

Online text © 1998-2009 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson | Written c. 1864

What are tags?
Tags, sometimes called “folksonomies,” are words that describe or categorize a poem, like “20th century modernism” or “Italian sonnet”. Tags can help you find poems that have something in common, based on how other people classify them.

« Previous