Emily Dickinson

Just Lost, When I Was Saved!

poem 160

Just Lost, When I Was Saved! - meaning Summary

Saved at the Threshold

The poem describes a sudden near-death moment transformed into rescue: the speaker feels death approach, experiences a brief passage toward eternity, then is breathed back into life. That flash leaves them with secret knowledge and an altered perspective, like a sailor or reporter who has seen beyond the seal of death. The concluding resolution imagines staying longer next time to observe eternity’s slow, sweeping changes.

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Just lost, when I was saved! Just felt the world go by! Just girt me for the onset with Eternity, When breath blew back, And on the other side I heard recede the disappointed tide! Therefore, as One returned, I feel Odd secrets of the line to tell! Some Sailor, skirting foreign shores Some pale Reporter, from the awful doors Before the Seal! Next time, to stay! Next time, the things to see By Ear unheard, Unscrutinized by Eye Next time, to tarry, While the Ages steal Slow tramp the Centuries, And the Cycles wheel!

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