ED-LarryB

851.1864.“I want” – it pleaded – All it’s life –

“I want”—it pleaded—All its life—
I want—was chief it said
When Skill entreated it—the last—
And when so newly dead—

I could not deem it late—to hear
That single—steadfast sigh—
The lips had placed as with a “Please”
Toward Eternity—

In this poem’s manuscript, EED [my new moniker for Emily Elizabeth Dickinson] had no alternative words or phrases.

As noted below, EED intended “I” and “it” to be nominative case, i.e., the subject and its referent pronoun in Line 1, and “Skill” is accusative case, or direct object. “I” is EED’s soul and “it” is the possessive pronoun for “I”. “I” begs the “Skill” (accusative case, direct object) to write great poetry. [Hope I got that right.]

Anthony Madrid on The Prowling Bee [TPB] nailed this poem, F851 so I copied and pasted his interpretation [downloaded 7/13/2026; brackets are mine, LarryB]:

“If I’m right about this one, you have to understand “Skill” (line 3) as accusative case, not nominative. In other words, it’s not skill that’s doing the entreating. It’s the “it” from the first line that’s doing the entreating. “It”—is begging for skill.

“Here, I’ll venture a translation/paraphrase:

[Stanza 1]

“I want, it pleaded all its life. I want was chiefly what it said, when it begged for skill, on its last day, and even when it was newly dead.

 [Stanza 2]

“I could not deem that plea too late when I heard that single-minded [final] sigh that the lips had emitted, like the word “Please” aimed at eternity . . . .

 If I’m right, the piece shows Emily Elizabeth [EED] respecting and justifying the eternal sense of inadequacy a poet feels. She’s saying a poet’s soul (that’s the “it”) does right to perpetually entreat for skill—to the very end of life and beyond.

“Sentiments like that prompted me [Madrid], years ago, to compare Dickinson to her great Urdu contemporary, Ghalib [1797-1869, Indian poet]. His poetry, too, is full of appreciating and respecting agony, begging, dissatisfaction….

Anthony Madrid”
…………………………………………………………

PS: EED loves to trick readers with riddles, such as Line 3, “When Skill entreated it —”. EED requires her readers to know her tricks well enough that they understand Line 3 is inverted and really means “When it [EED’s soul] entreated Skill”. EDLex Def. 1d of “entreated” is “begged”.
……………………………………………………………….

On another topic, Madrid’s sentence below flipped on a light for me, but not as you might expect:

“If I’m right, the piece shows Emily Elizabeth respecting and justifying the eternal sense of inadequacy a poet feels.”

If Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) gets an initialized moniker, EBB [Google AI overview, 7/13/2026) why should I, LarryB,  be calling Emily Elizabeth Dickinson just “ED”? Henceforth “ED” becomes “EED” in my comments.

We don’t call Robert Frost “Robert” or Dylan Thomas “Dylan”, so why call “Emily Elizabeth Dickinson” “Emily”? Finally, EED’s full name takes too long to type, so henceforth she shall be “EED” for me.

PS: One further reason to refer to Emily Elizabeth Dickinson as “EED” is because George Henry Gould, EED’s close friend and confidant she met while they were both young adults in Amherst, gave her and Lavinia the famous “Ebon Box” (F180, 1860) as he left Amherst for a teaching job in New York. On the top of the box he painted their names:

“EMILY E. AND LAVINIA N. DICKINSON”

Presumably, EED’s good friend knew the sisters well enough to know they would appreciate recognition of their middle names with their abbreviations, “E.” and “N.”.

So let’s do it folks, EED deserves our honoring, not our familiarity.

850.1864.Defrauded I a Butterfly –

Defrauded I a Butterfly –
The lawful Heir – for Thee –

ED is still fuming about Wadsworth walking with her at dusk in the Dickinson apple orchard (at her suggestion), and then plying her with honeyed words of love until, after dark in a remote corner of the orchard, she gave in. After their walk, he took his departure, and as they said goodbye, in ED’s words, they looked deep into each other’s eyes:

“Most—I love the Cause that slew Me.
Often as I die
Its beloved Recognition
Holds a Sun on Me—

“Best—at Setting—as is Nature’s—
Neither witnessed Rise
Till the infinite Aurora
In the other’s eyes.”

I interpret these last two stanzas of ‘Struck, was I, not yet by Lightning—’ [Stanzas 5-6, Fr841] as:

5. And the strangest thing is that I still love Wadsworth, even though he seduced me. I die of shame each day that passes, but at the same time his recognition of me is the Sun of my life.

6. Just as a sunset is most inspiring as the Sun sinks behind the horizon, the best part of our summer day was as he was leaving. Neither spoke, but we peered deep into each other’s eyes and saw an infinite sunrise.
……………………………………………………………….

The Amherst train station was one block east of “Homestead” on Main Street, which made Wadsworth’s escape easy. No doubt, he hopped on the night train to Northampton, MA, 12 miles SW of Amherst, where he was visiting his old seminary roommate, James Clark, and I suspect the next morning he caught the Philadelphia train for the 250-mile trip south to home. Judging from the many poems ED wrote after her summer 1860 seduction in which she wonders if Wadsworth is alive or dead, I suspect he never again responded to her letters. By many, I mean 931 poems, 52% of her lifetime productivity, were composed during 1861-1865.Here’s one example:

F349, ‘He touched me, so I live to know’, “about summer 1862” (Franklin 1998)

He touched me, so I live to know
That such a day, permitted so,
I groped upon his breast –

It was a boundless place to me
And silenced, as the awful Sea
Puts minor streams to rest.

And now, I’m different from before,
As if I breathed superior air—
Or brushed a Royal Gown—
My feet, too, that had wandered so—
My Gypsy face—transfigured now—
To tenderer Renown—

Into this Port, if I might come,
Rebecca, to Jerusalem,
Would not so ravished turn—
Nor Persian, baffled at her shrine
Lift such a Crucifixial sign
To her imperial Sun.

Well, almost “never”:
That 1860 evening at Homestead was not the last time ED saw Wadsworth. He visited her again during summer 1880 after receiving her four-line invitation (F1485, late 1878):

“Spurn the temerity —
Rashness of Calvary —
Gay were Gethsemane
Knew we of Thee —”

This time he did not RSVP but simply showed up at her front door after giving an invited sermon at James Clark’s church in Northampton, MA. This visit took courage, both for ED when she invited him and for Wadsworth when he knocked on her door without sending an RSVP:

“The last time he came in Life, I was with my Lilies and Heliotropes, said my Sister to me, “the Gentleman with the deep voice wants to see you, Emily,” hearing him ask of the Servant.

“Where did you come from,” I said, for he spoke like an Apparition. “I stepped from my Pulpit from to the Train” was [his] simple reply, and when I asked “how long”, “Twenty Years” said he with inscrutable roguery – but the loved Voice has ceased.”

Letter JL1040 to Charles Clark, April 15, 1886, one month before ED died. Wadsworth died on April 1, 1882.
………………………………………..

PS. “Calvary” was ED’s codeword for Wadsworth and “Gethsemane” was her codename for herself

849.1864.By my Window have I for Scenery

Variant A’ of ‘F849’, as published by Franklin (1998). The “A” is Franklin’s customary name for the first known variant of a poem. Variant A is the only known manuscript of this poem, which I call ‘Version 1′:

By my Window have I for Scenery
`Just a Sea — with a Stem —                                                                If the Bird and the Farmer — deem it a “Pine” —
The Opinion will serve — for them —

It has no Port, nor a “Line” — but the Jays                       L5
That split their route to the Sky —
Or a Squirrel, whose giddy Peninsula
May be easier reached — this way —

For Inlands — the Earth is the under side —
And the upper side — is the Sun —                                L10
And its Commerce — if Commerce it have —
Of Spice — I infer from the Odors borne —

Of its Voice — to affirm — when the Wind is within —
Can the Dumb — define the Divine?
The Definition of Melody — is —                                   L15
That Definition is none —

It — suggests to our Faith —
They — suggest to our Sight —
When the latter — is put away
I shall meet with Conviction I somewhere met       L20
That Immortality —

Was the Pine at my Window a “Fellow
Of the Royal” Infinity?
Apprehensions — are God’s introductions —
To be hallowed — accordingly —                           L25

……………………………………………………………………………………….

In her manuscript of F849A, ED suggested five alternate words/phrases for five of her original words. In Version 2 of this poem, I’ve put these alternates in {curly brackets} beside the originals.

Also in Version 2, I use [regular brackets] around my guesses of the antecedents of vague pronouns and around my explanatory note.

Below each of ED’s stanzas is my prose interpretation of that stanza:

‘By my Window have I for Scenery’, F849A, Version 2:

Stanza 1

By my Window have I for Scenery
Just a Sea — with a Stem —
If {Grant} the Bird and the Farmer — deem it a “Pine” —.
The Opinion will serve {do}— for them —

S1 interpretation

Outside my second-floor bedroom window at Homestead stands an eastern white pine whose limbs sway in the wind like the billowing waves of a “Sea”. If a bird or a farmer wants to call it a pine, that’s fine for them, but not for me.

Stanza 2

It [the sea with a stem] has no Port, nor a “Line” [to tie to a dock] — but the Jays —
That split their route to the Sky {Ply between it, and the Sky} —
Or a Squirrel, whose giddy Peninsula [branch in another tree]
May be easier reached {better attained, easier gained} — this way —

S2 interpretation

My Sea Pine has no port, nor a Line to tie a ship to a dock, but Jays must fly around it on their route to the Sky, and a Squirrel, on its way to its nest on a limb of another tree, uses one of Sea Pine’s swaying Peninsulas [branches] as a shortcut home.

Stanza 3

For Inlands — the Earth is the under side —
And the upper side — is the Sun —
And its Commerce — if Commerce it have —
Of Spice — I infer from the Odors borne —

S3 interpretation

In my side yard my Sea Pine roots in the Earth, and above it shines the Sun. It sheds a haunting fragrance that wafts on the wind. The fragrance, distilled, is perfume of Commerce, if Commerce there be, of merchantmen filled with an aromatic load.

Stanza 4

Of its Voice — to affirm — when the Wind is within —
Can the Dumb — define {divulge} the Divine?
The Definition of Melody — is —
That Definition is none —

S4 interpretation

When Wind blows through Sea Pine’s branches, it affirms the mystic music, the melody of the spheres. Can the Dumb define Divine? Sea Pine’s Definition of Melody is – that Definition is none.

Stanza 5

It [Sea Pine’s voice]— suggests to our Faith —
They [sign language of the “Dumb”] — suggest to our Sight* —
When the latter [Sight] — is put away
I shall meet with Conviction [that] I somewhere met
That Immortality [before] —

S5 interpretation

Sea Pine suggests to my Faith, the Dumbs’ sign language suggests to my Sight*, that when I and my hearing die, I believe with Conviction I will again hear the Music of the Spheres, which is Immortality. [Several times in my younger days I heard the Music, often while watching a sunset out my west window. I haven’t the skill to describe how powerful it sounded, but it convinced me that life is worth living, which saved my life during the months after Wadsworth moved to the west coast.]

Stanza 6

Was the Pine at my Window a “Fellow
Of the Royal” Infinity?
Apprehensions — are God’s introductions —
To be hallowed — accordingly —

S6 interpretation

Is Sea Pine at my Window an angel, a “Fellow of the Royal” Infinity? Uncertainties [EDLex Definition 2 of “Apprehensions” are God’s introductions and to be hallowed accordingly.
………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Here are my preferences of published and alternate words/phrases and my reasons, listed by line number:

3. Original word “If” because “Grant” doesn’t make sense to me
4. Alternate word “do” because it’s stronger than “serve”
5. Original phrase “That split their route to the Sky” because it focuses on the Sea Pine, while “Ply between it, and the Sky” does not,
6. Original phrase “easier reached” because it’s direct, while “better attained” or “easier gained” are not,
7. Original word “define” because it’s stronger and rhymes with “Divine”.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Dickinson vs. Keats,
Melody and Beauty:

F849A, Lines 15-16, early 1864, to ED’s  ‘Ebon Box’

“The Definition of Beauty is
That Definition is none—”

In F849, when ED writes “Melody” she means mystic melodies “of no tone”, referring to Keats’ ‘Ode’:

“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone”

 

F797A, Lines 1-2, early 1864, to Sue

“The Definition of Melody — is —
That Definition is none —”

In F797, when ED writes “Beauty”, she’s referring to Keats’ ‘Ode on a ‘Grecian Urn’:

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

…………………………………………………………………………………….

*American Sign Language (ASL) originated in 1817 when educator Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Deaf French instructor Laurent Clerc founded the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut.

847.1864. Her final Summer was it—

ED enjambs Line 4-5, and offers an alternate Line 2 and two alternate words for Lines 5 and 7, in {curly brackets}. I prefer all three alternates over her originals and have used them below:

Her final Summer was it—
{Yet we suspected not}
If tenderer industriousness
Pervaded Her, {We thought

A further} {Fund} of life
Developed from within—
When Death lit all the {brevity}
It made the hurry plain—

We wondered at our blindness
When nothing was to see
But Her Carrara Guide post—
At Our Stupidity—

When duller than our dullness
The Busy Darling lay
So busy was she—finishing—
So leisurely—were We—

My interpretation of F847, ‘Her final Summer was it’:

1. During summer, she knew she was dying but didn’t tell us. She seemed more industrious than usual putting her affairs in order. We thought

2. she had found a fund of life deep inside her, so we were surprised when she visibly began to die. That explained why she had been hurrying.

3. We wondered at our blindness, but she showed us nothing that would make us suspect her death was near. Her face was calm as marble. We can’t believe we were so blind to the truth.

4. Even when she began to fade we could not believe the end was near. We took our time when she asked for help and now regret our leisureness. On her deathbed she finished her final legal documents and gave instructions for her funeral.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

ED choreographed her own funeral carefully:

“The honorary pallbearers, among them the president and professors of Amherst College, set the casket down after exiting the Homestead’s back door, and their burden was shouldered, at the poet’s own request, by six Irish workmen who had been hired men on the Dickinson grounds.

“Following her late directions, they circled her flower garden, walked through the great barn that stood behind the house, and took a grassy path across house lots and fields of buttercups to West Cemetery [500 yards from Homestead], followed by the friends who had attended the simple service. There Emily Dickinson was interred in a grave Sue had lined with evergreen boughs, within the family plot enclosed by an iron fence.”

( https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/emily-dickinson/biography/special-topics/emily-dickinson-and-death/ )

846.1864.A Drop fell on the Apple Tree—

 A Drop fell on the Apple Tree—
Another—on the Roof—
A Half a Dozen kissed the Eaves—
And made the Gables laugh—

A few went out to help the Brook
That went to help the Sea—
Myself Conjectured were they Pearls—
What Necklaces could be—

The Dust replaced, in Hoisted Roads—
The Birds jocoser sung—
The Sunshine threw his Hat away—
The Bushes— spangles flung—

The Breezes brought dejected Lutes—
And bathed them in the Glee—
The Orient showed a single Flag,
And signed the fête away—
……………………………………………………………………

My prose interpretation of F846, stanza by stanza:

Stanza 1

A Drop fell on the Apple Tree—
Another—on the Roof—
A Half a Dozen kissed the Eaves—
And made the Gables laugh—

S1:

At dawn’s dim light, a drop of rain landed on our apple tree. Then another hit our roof and half a dozen kissed our eaves. Roof’s tri-tip gable laughed in glee.

 

Stanza 2:

A few went out to help the Brook
That went to help the Sea—
Myself Conjectured were they Pearls—
What Necklaces could be—

S2:

A few drops dripped down to the ground, soaked in, and seeped through soil until they joined the brook. ED’s brook drops joined the river drops and flowed down to the sea. I wish that they were pearls she thought; what jewelry they would be.

 

Stanza 3:

The Dust replaced, in Hoisted Roads—
The Birds jocoser sung—
The Sunshine threw his Hat away—
The Bushes— spangles flung—

S3:

Damp dust fell on raised bed roads, while birds sang merrily; rising Sun cleared clouds away, and bush drops sparkled in its light.

 

Stanza 4:

The Breezes brought dejected Lutes—
And bathed them in the Glee—
The Orient showed a single Flag,
And signed the fête away—

S4:

Wind sighed mournful in our pines, Sun cheered them up with dawn, then rose into a rosy sky and told the crowd get gone.
……………………………………………………………….

 

How can I, at 83, read this poem and not remember 1955, the year Righteous Brothers sang:

Lonely rivers flow
To the sea, to the sea,
To the open arms of the sea

Ya gotta hear it to really feel the river flow.

Oh, to be 13 again ─ that was one lovely love song.
………………………………………………………………………….

Speaking of a flowing river, in this jocose poem ED accurately describes the global water cycle, from rain drops to soil drops to creek drops to river drops to oceans drops, but there she lets them swim for centuries, unfinished with their trip.

Finally, her sea drops change to molecules that migrate to the clouds, there join their friends in drops again that fall on ED’s apple trees. That’s science before its time.
………………………………………………………………

Speaking of science, here’s a trip down memory lane: In 1861, ED wrote a famous line in Master Letter 2: “God made me ─ Master  ─ I did’nt be-myself. I dont know how it was done. He built the heart in me” [FL233]. She could have said the same about her brain.

ED was blessed with the heart of a poet and the brain of a scientist. Her heart preferred rain drops that became pearls in the sea, not water molecules that joined clouds and condensed back into raindrops that fell on her apple trees. She disconnected the global water cycle because her heart overruled her brain.

Did she know that a boiling teapot makes steam that condenses into waterdrops on her winter windowpane? Of course she did. Did she know rain drops take that trip? Given ED’s brain, I’ll bet she did.
…………………………………………………………………….

 

ED wrote four variants of F846. All quotes are from Franklin (1998):

Variant A, “recorded about early 1864”. In pencil on her manuscript, ED offered five alternate words and phrases {single curly brackets}.

Variant B: “Two lines from about 1864 are in pencil on a small fragment of stationery” as alternatives for Line 15 {{double curly brackets}}:

“The East put out a single Flag”
“Nature [put out a single Flag]”

Variant C: “About 1875, ED, apparently encountering the earlier manuscript of Lines 7-8, wrote them out again, introducing a new variant” {{{triple curly brackets}}}:

“Myself computed were they Pearls
What Legacy could be”

Variant D: “About 1873 [ED] sent Susan a copy, without address or signature, of the last eight lines of ‘A drop fell on the apple tree’.”. In this variant, she omitted the break between Stanzas 3 and 4, omitted the comma in Line 9, and replaced “jocoser” with “redoubled” in Line 10. she also replaced Lines 14-16, the final three lines of the poem with:

“And bathed them in the Sea —
Then Nature raised a Colored Hand
And signed the Van away –”

(R. W. Franklin, 1998, Variorum, Vol 2, pp. 794-796)

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

In Lines (L#), I prefer ED’s:

L6: Alternate word, “Who”, because it personifies “Brooks”;

L8: Alternate phrase, “for me”, because it feels more personal than “could be”;

L9: Omit the comma because it disrupts the quartet of iambs;

L10: Original “jocoser” because it’s jocoser than “redoubled”.

L12: Alternate “Orchards” because ED had a large apple orchard behind her house;

Ls12-13: Original separated Stanzas 3 and 4 because forced enjambment makes no sense;

L14: Original “Glee” because a “fête” is a “Glee” and a “Sea” is not;

L15: Alternate, “The East put out a single Flag”, because it leaves no doubt this poem is about a sunrise. ED overused the word “Orient, and using “Flag” creates four iambs that mimic the rhythm of four heartbeats: da DUM, da DUM. da DUM, da DUM;

L16: Original “fête” because it’s one syllable instead of two, creates three iambic heartbeats, pizzazes the poem while plain “party” bores, and a “fête” is not a “Van”;

Ls19-20: Originals because her alternate lines. “Myself computed were they Pearls / What Affluence could be” is waaaay too mendacious. If “Affluence” was on her mind, I’ll have to rethink my opinion of ED.
……………………………………………………………

Here’s the hashed-out poem with my preferences, original or alternate:

A Drop fell on the Apple Tree—
Another—on the Roof—
A Half a Dozen kissed the Eaves—
And made the Gables laugh—

A few went out to help the Brook
{Who} went to help the Sea—
Myself Conjectured were they Pearls—
Necklaces {for me} —

The Dust replaced, in Hoisted Roads—
The Birds jocoser sung—
The Sunshine threw his Hat away—
The {Orchard’s} — spangles flung—

The Breezes brought dejected Lutes—
And bathed them in the Glee—
{The East put out a single Flag},
And signed the fête away—
……………………………………………………………………….

 

Explanations:

L9: “The Dust replaced, in Hoisted Roads—”

Road builders had to add fill to raise roads in wet areas, especially at a time when most roads were dirt. During dry spells these raised dirt roads were dryer and therefore dustier than unraised roads. Any wind will make a cloud of dust.

Ls13-14: “The Breezes brought dejected Lutes—/ And bathed them in the Glee—”

Speaking from living through an unairconditioned childhood in Arkansas (1942-????), summer breezes felt like hot hair driers, definitely a “dejected” feeling, and, finally, a flashing summer thunderstorm makes air smell sweet and clean, easily sensed by a kid who spent summer days outdoors.

My parents attributed that sweet smell to ozone made by the frequently flashing lightning, and they were right: “Ozone has a sharp, pungent, and highly distinctive smell that most people associate with ‘clean’ or ‘fresh’ air—like the crisp scent right after a thunderstorm” [Google AI overview, downloaded 7/15/2026].

L15-16: “The Orient showed a single Flag, / And signed the fête away—”

For me, “Orient” and “East” suggest sunrise, not sundown. When “The Sunshine threw his Hat away—”, he removed Earth’s night shade, and, when he “signed the fête away”, he told the 3-6 AM rainstorm “fête” to stop the drops.
………………………………………………………….

What the devil is ED doing awake at 3 AM?

Speaking from experience again, three years of rising at 4 AM to deliver newspapers, or, in ED’s case, at 3 AM to fix breakfast for her early rising father, creates a habit that lasts a lifetime. ED wanted to spend her morning hours writing poetry and, with a poem [F35, 1858], she implored her father to hire house help:

“Sleep is supposed to be
By souls of sanity
The shutting of the eye.

Sleep is the station grand
Down wh’, on either hand
The hosts of witness stand!

Morn is supposed to be
By people of degree
The breaking of the Day.

Morning has not occurred!

That shall Aurora be—
East of Eternity— One with the banner gay—
One in the red array—
That is the break of Day!”

Her father obliged, over strong objections from his wife, and ED thanked him by dedicating F35 to him:

“To my Father — to whose untiring efforts in my behalf, I am indebted for my morning hours. — viz — 3 AM to 12 PM. These grateful lines are inscribed by his aff. Daughter.” [JL198, 1858].
……………………………………………………………………..

PS: The word “banner” in Line 12 of F35, composed in 1858, and the word “flag” in Line 15 of F846, composed in 1864, confirms she’s describing dawn in both poems.
…………………………………………………………………………..

Sources:

Franklin, R.W. (ed). 1986. The Master Letters of Emily Dickinson. Amherst College Press

Franklin, R.W. (ed). 1998. The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Variorum, 3 vols. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press

 

845.1864.We can but follow to the Sun—

We can but follow to the Sun—
As oft as He go down
He leave Ourselves a Sphere behind—
‘Tis mostly—following—

We go no further with the Dust
Than to the Earthen Door—
And then the Panels are reversed—
And we behold—no more.

My prose interpretation of ‘We can but follow to the Sun —’ (F845, 1864):

1. All our lives we only follow the Sun. As often as He sets, we sleep, Earth turns, Sun rises, and we wake.

2. “Dust to dust” circumscribes our lives, and then our curtain falls. Earth swallows us, night reigns, and we behold no more.
………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Excerpt from an ED letter to Higginson (JL503, June 1877):

“When a few years old – I was taken to a Funeral which I now know was of peculiar distress, and the Clergyman asked “Is the Arm of the Lord shortened that it cannot save?

He italicized the ‘cannot.’ I mistook the accent for a doubt of Immortality and not daring to ask, it besets me still.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………..

In 1882, ED revisited F845’s gist with ‘Those – dying then’ (F1581):

Those – dying then,
Knew where they went –
They went to God’s Right Hand –
That Hand is amputated now
And God cannot be found –

The abdication of Belief
Makes the Behavior small –
Better an ignis fatuus
Than no illume at all –
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

ignis fatuus (noun)

Merriam-Webster Definition:

1. a light that sometimes appears in the night over marshy ground and is often attributable to the combustion of gas from decomposed organic matter
2. a deceptive goal or hope

   “Ignis fatuus” is a Latin term meaning, literally, “foolish fire.”

   Other names for this light are “jack-o’-lantern” and “will-o’-the-wisp” — both of which are connected to folklore about mysterious men, Jack and Will, who carry a lantern or a wisp of light at night.

   Etymology:

   Medieval Latin, literally, foolish fire
   First known use was in 1563, in Sense 1 (above).

   Synonyms: pipe dream, mirage, chimera, delusion, daydream, illusion

(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ignis%20fatuus)