A Diamond on the Hand
To Custom Common grown
Subsides from its significance
The Gem were best unknown—
Within a Seller’s Shrine
How many sight and sigh
And cannot, but are mad for fear
That any other buy.
A Diamond on the Hand
Summary
A Diamond on the Hand is a compact Emily Dickinson poem that turns a familiar jewel into a quiet study of desire. Once a gem sits on a hand, custom dulls its wonder, yet in a seller's shrine it still stirs longing in those who gaze and sigh. Dickinson sets possession against yearning, and sketches the restless fear that someone else might buy what the watcher cannot. In just a few lines, it asks what makes something precious.
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