Our Share of Night to Bear

Our Share of Night to Bear - meaning Summary

Shared Darkness and Dawn

The poem reflects on life as a shared allotment of darkness and light, with each person carrying a portion of night and morning. Dickinson frames human existence as having blanks to be filled—some with joy, some with scorn—and suggests variability in experience: occasional guidance or confusion represented by stars and mists. The closing image points to an eventual clearing or arrival of day, implying continuity and transience rather than fixed fate.