Emily Dickinson

I Made Slow Riches but My Gain

poem 843

I Made Slow Riches but My Gain - meaning Summary

Quiet, Cumulative Progress

The speaker reflects on gradual, steady accumulation—riches gained slowly yet reliably, like the steady progress of the sun. Daily increases vary and often seem small or imperceptible, but each night counts more than the last, so the unseen gains compound into a substantial total. The poem emphasizes patience, persistence, and the quiet power of incremental progress rather than sudden windfalls.

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I made slow Riches but my Gain Was steady as the Sun And every Night, it numbered more Than the preceding One All Days, I did not earn the same But my perceiveless Gain Inferred the less by Growing than The Sum that it had grown.

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