I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, (340)

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading – treading – till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through –
 
And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum –
Kept beating – beating – till I thought
My mind was going numb –
 
And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space – began to toll,
 
As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race,
Wrecked, solitary, here –
 
And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down –
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing – then –

–EMILY DICKINSON

 The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Variorum Edition (Harvard University Press, 1983)  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45706/i-felt-a-funeral-in-my-brain-340