527

To put this World down, like a Bundle -
And walk steady, away,
Requires Energy - possibly Agony -
'Tis the Scarlet way

Trodden with straight renunciation
By the Son of God -
Later, his faint Confederates
Justify the Road -

Flavors of that old Crucifixion -
Filaments of Bloom, Pontius Pilate sowed -
Strong Clusters, from Barabbas' Tomb -

Sacrament, Saints partook before us -
Patent, every drop,
With the Brand of the Gentile Drinker
Who indorsed the Cup -
©Emily Dickinson, c.1862
[via T.H. Johnson's edition of Ms. Dickinson's poems, ©1960, Little, Brown, & Co., p. 258]