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Poems by Emily Dickinson, Series One

VIII.

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A wounded deer leaps highest, I've heard the hunter tell; 'T is but the ecstasy of death, And then the brake is still.

The smitten rock that gushes, The trampled steel that springs; A cheek is always redder Just where the hectic stings!

Mirth is the mail of anguish, In which it cautions arm, Lest anybody spy the blood And "You're hurt" exclaim!

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