A doubt if it be Us
Assists the staggering Mind
In an extremer Anguish
Until it footing find.
An Unreality is lent,
A merciful Mirage
That makes the living possible
While it suspends the lives.
A doubt if it be Us
Summary
"A Doubt If It Be Us" is a poem by Emily Dickinson that follows the mind in the first shock of anguish. In just eight lines, a staggering speaker finds that doubt and unreality act as a "merciful Mirage," a fragile bridge across unbearable pain. The tension lies in the strange mercy of disbelief, which makes living possible while it suspends the lives it protects. Dickinson's compressed imagery rewards slow, repeated reading.
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