"There Interposed a Fly”

For Emily Dickinson, May 15, 1886

As her last milky breath skimmed

her lips she heard me hum

the flickering music of the sun.

From the bedpost I watched

her onyx eyes bum out their coal-

all her fire blown into glass

as transparent as my wings. How could I not

caress her ear, alight upon her muslin

shoulder? In this linen light it was easy

in my blue bottle boldness to unlock

her prison of liquid perfume,

motes of cinnamon dispersed

through air, her soul' s censer waving,

releasing her from the enigma

of dashes. She called to me-

she would miss wild nights

moored in alabaster, in this chamber

where I nestled between the auburn

threads of her hair. I was humbled-

her last message of love was for me,

a speck, a cinder afloat in white

air. What could I give her?

If only I could translate the secret of dying

(after all, it's what I feed on)

if only I could tell her-

keep your eyes open, stare at me

as if I were your mountain,

your sky, your dot on a disc of snow-

your never in the letting go.

Andrea Bates