Emily Dickinson

A darting fear—a pomp—a tear

Summary


"A darting fear—a pomp—a tear" is a four-line poem that compresses a whole emotional arc into a single breath. Fear flickers, ceremony passes, a tear falls, and then comes a quiet morning waking. The speaker rises to find that the thing they waited and hoped for has taken in a different dawn. Dickinson leaves the loss and the longing unnamed, so each reader supplies their own. It rewards a slow second reading.

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A darting fear—a pomp—a tear—
A waking on a morn
To find that what one waked for,
Inhales the different dawn.

A young woman at her window at dawn, illustrating Emily Dickinson's poem "A darting fear—a pomp—a tear".
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Credits

Emily Dickinson was a reclusive 19th-century American poet from Amherst, Massachusetts, whose short, dash-filled lyrics were mostly published after her death. This poem shows her signature economy: a few lines and a handful of dashes carry a whole story of anticipation and change.