Month: June 2026

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.
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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. Another hit our roof and half a dozen kissed our eaves. Roof’s three-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. Brook drops joined river drops and flowed down to the sea. I wish that there they changed to pearls, what jewelry that 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, birds sang a merry song. Rising Sun cleared clouds away, and tree drops brightly shone.

 

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 at dawn, then rose into a rosy sky and told the guests — 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.
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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.
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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.
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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)

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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 –
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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)

843.1864. It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon—

It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon—
The Flower—distinct and Red—
I, passing, thought another Noon
Another in its stead

Will equal glow, and thought no More
But came another Day
To find the Species disappeared—
The Same Locality—

The Sun in place—no other fraud
On Nature’s perfect Sum—
Had I but lingered Yesterday—
Was my retrieveless blame—

Much Flowers of this and further Zones
Have perished in my Hands
For seeking its Resemblance—
But unapproached it stands—

The single Flower of the Earth
That I, in passing by
Unconscious was—Great Nature’s Face
Passed infinite by Me—

“Much Flowers of this and further Zones
Have perished in my Hands
For seeking its Resemblance—
But unapproached it stands—”
……………………………………………………………………………

My biographical interpretation of ‘It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon —’, with ED’s enjamb of Lines 4-5 noted {curly brackets:

1.
It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon —
The Flower — distinct and Red —
I, passing, thought another Noon
Another in its stead {enjambed with L5}

My day-lily bloomed early this morning and lasted til noon, but its half-day reminded me of a half-day four years ago when Reverend Charles Wadsworth rang at noon at my front door. Unlike my day-lily, whose life began early and ended at noon, Wadsworth’s visit began at noon and ended after dark.

2.
Will equal glow. and thought no More
But came another Day
To find the Species disappeared —
The Same Locality —

I thought he would come again, and then I thought no more. But I was wrong, he never returned.

3.
The Sun in place — no other fraud
On Nature’s perfect Sum—
Had I but lingered Yesterday —
Was my retrieveless blame —

Summer sunlight warmed the Earth; no cloud dimmed the sky. Looking back, I realize that half-day was the apogee of my life. If I had only stopped the clock, I might have lived that time again. But I could not, and that was my own fault.

4.
Much Flowers of this and further Zones
Have perished in my Hands
For seeking its Resemblance —
But unapproached it stands —

I’ve tried desperately to find another soul like Wadsworth’s, but each one I find falls short, and I, one by one, lay them in my ebony box and close the lid.

5.
The single Flower of the Earth
That I, in passing by
Unconscious was — Great Nature’s Face
Passed infinite by Me —

The one thing on Earth I want, I had that day, but never since. I was not aware then that I had found, and lost, the love of my life.
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ED’s alternate words and phrases [Lines L10, L15, L19, L20] are in {curly brackets}:

It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon —
The Flower — distinct and Red —
I, passing, thought another Noon
Another in its stead

Will equal glow, and thought no More
But came another Day
To find the Species disappeared —
The Same Locality —

The Sun in place — no other fraud
On Nature’s perfect {general} Sum —
Had I but lingered Yesterday —
Was my retrieveless blame —

Much Flowers of this and further Zones
Have perished in my Hands
For seeking its {similitude} —
But unapproached it stands —

The single Flower of the Earth
That I, in passing by
Unconscious was — Great Nature’s Face
Passed infinite by Me —

{L19: Was ignorant that Nature closed}
{L20A: My Opportunity; Line 20B: Went infinite by Me —}

 

1. In Line 10 I prefer ED’s original word, “perfect” because it begins with a powerful “p”; “general” sounds wishy-washy.
   .
2. In Line 15 I prefer her alternate word , “similitude” because it alliterates with “seeking”. I prefer her alternate Line 15 because it has eight syllables, which matches Line 13. ED’s original Line 15 has only 7 monosyllables.
   .
3. I prefer her original Line 19 because it has eight syllables; her alternate Line 19 has a ridiculous 14 syllables.
   .
4. I prefer her original L20 because her alternate Line 20A, “My Opportunity”, makes no sense and because her original first word, “Past”, packs more power than wimpy “Went”
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In summer 1880, Wadsworth did return to Homestead, and, as evidence of ED’s enduring love for him, here is an 1879 “Calvary” poem (F1485) that affirms her concern for him in a sweet quatrain.

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

“Calvary” and “Gethsemane” are ED’s code names for Wadsworth and herself. She had to be careful in her poems to protect Wadsworth’s reputation and her own privacy. ‘Spurn the temerity —’ (F1485, 1879) is the 12th and last of her “Calvary” poems.

It would not surprise me if ED mailed F1485 to Wadsworth in 1879, though we have no hard evidence that happened because both she and he burned all their mutual letters. The following summer, 1880, he showed up unannounced at her front door:

“Where did you come from,” I said, for he spoke like an Apparition. “I stepped from my Pulpit 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, exactly one month before she died.

 

The ED-Wadsworth “love affair” was likely a marriage of two disparate minds who agreed to disagree, both deeply spiritual, one an eloquent conservative Christian minister, the other a world-class agnostic poet. They died close friends, in 1882 and 1886 respectively.

Wadsworth, who was 66 in 1880, apparently made the 500-mile roundtrip from his home in Philadelphia to visit his close friends, James and Charles Clark in Northampton, MA.

ED’s letter (JL1040) tells us Wadsworth gave a sermon at the Clarks’ church and then took the 12-mile train trip to Amherst that afternoon to visit her. His answer to her question, “Twenty Years” was a reference to his previous visit with her in Amherst in summer 1860. ED’s phrase, “inscrutable roguery”, tells me how much ED loved Wadsworth — he was the love of her life.
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ED’S lifelong theme of friends lost to death or moving away runs strong in her letters and poems. At age 14, much too young, she experienced the death of a close friend. She was in an adjoining room when the girl died and she begged the girl’s mother to let her say goodbye one last time.  Unwisely, the mother relented. ED suffered severe fear-of-abandonment anxiety for the rest of her life.
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ED’s “Ebon Box”:

ED used closing the lid of her “Ebon Box” as a metaphor for losing friends, either to death or, more commonly, to alienation. At the end of her life she had no close long-term friends, probably because she had demanded too much of them. (Sewall, R. B, 1974. The Life of Emily Dickinson)

“Historical records indicate that Emily Dickinson’s famous ebony box was gifted to her by George Henry Gould, a close friend and confidant she met while they were both young adults in Amherst.” (Google AI Overview, downloaded 6/15/2026)

This black scarred box is the one Harvard eventually acquired in 1950. From the photo, its dimensions appear to be about 12”x12”x18”:

https://iraf.substack.com/p/dickinson-stops-the-clocks#:~:text=Dickinson%20Stops%20the,it%20was%20%E2%80%9Calive.%E2%80%9D

“It became a personal repository where she quietly stored her private correspondence and hand-sewn packets of poems. After Dickinson died in 1886, her sister Lavinia inherited the chest and discovered the massive cache of nearly 1,800 poems inside, eventually leading to their publication.” (Google AI Overview, downloaded 6/15/2026)

For a fuller explanation of its circuitous journey before it was given to Harvard, see: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLaMDv_tx3-/

JL189. To John Long Graves, August 1856

“Ah John – Gone? Then I lift the lid to my box of Phantoms, and lay another in, unto the Resurrection – Then will I gather in Paradise, the blossoms fallen here, and on the shores of the sea of Light, seek my missing sands.

Your Coz – Emilie –”

Miller, Cristanne. and Domhnall Mitchell (eds). The Letters of Emily Dickinson (p. 267). Harvard University Press. Kindle Edition

“Emily Dickinson was not referring to the physical death of John Long Graves. Instead, the “event” was his permanent departure from Amherst when he moved away to become the principal of Orford Academy in New Hampshire. This physical separation prompted Dickinson to express deep melancholy, likening her absent friends to memories or “phantoms” in her emotional memory box” (Google AI, downloaded 6/4/2026)

The top of the box reads “EMILY E. AND LAVINIA N. DICKINSON”
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Biographical note:

In summer 1880, Wadsworth did return to Homestead, and, as evidence of ED’s enduring love for him, here is an 1879 “Calvary” poem (F1485) that affirms her concern for him in a sweet quatrain.

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

“Calvary” and “Gethsemane” are ED’s code names for Wadsworth and herself.  She had to be careful in her poems to protect Wadsworth’s reputation and her own privacy. ‘Spurn the temerity —’ (F1485, 1879) is the 12th and last of her “Calvary” poems.

It would not surprise me if ED mailed F1485 to Wadsworth in 1879, though we have no hard evidence that happened because both she and he burned all their mutual letters. The following summer, 1880, he showed up unannounced at her front door:

“Where did you come from,” I said, for he spoke like an Apparition. “I stepped from my Pulpit 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 1040 to Charles Clark, April 15, 1886, exactly one month before she died.

The ED-Wadsworth “love affair” was likely a marriage of two disparate minds who agreed to disagree, both deeply spiritual, one an eloquent conservative Christian minister, the other a world-class agnostic poet. They died close friends, in 1882 and 1886 respectively.

Wadsworth, who was 66 in 1880, apparently made the 500-mile roundtrip from his home in Philadelphia to visit his close friends, James and Charles Clark in Northampton, MA.

ED’s letter (JL1040) tells us Wadsworth gave a sermon at the Clarks’ church and then took the 12-mile train trip to Amherst that afternoon to visit her. His answer to her question, “Twenty Years” was a reference to his previous visit with her in Amherst in summer 1860. ED’s phrase, “inscrutable roguery”, tells me how much ED loved Wadsworth — he was the love of her life.

 

274,1862.Again – his voice is at the door –

ED suggested seven alternate words/phrases, in {curly brackets}:  Line 8, 10, 13, 17, 18, 25, 29. My edits in [brackets]:

Again – his voice is at the door –
I feel the old Degree –
I hear him ask the servant
For such an one – as me –

I take a flower – as I go –
My face to justify –
He never saw me – in this life –
I might surprise {not please} his eye!

I cross the Hall with mingled steps –
I – silent {speechless} – pass the door –
I look on all this world contains –
Just his face – nothing more!

We talk in careless {venture} – and in toss –
A kind of plummet strain –
Each – sounding – shyly –
Just – how – deep –
The other’s one – had been – {foot had been}

We walk – I leave my Dog – at home {behind} –
A tender – thoughtful Moon –
Goes with us – just a little way –
And – then – we are alone –

Alone – if Angels are “alone” –
First time they try the sky!
Alone – if those “veiled faces” – be –
We cannot count – {That murmur so – ; That chant so – far -}
On High!
I’d give – to live that hour – again –
The purple – in my Vein –
But He must {should} count the drops – himself –
My price for every stain!
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A close inspection of F274 manuscript PAGE 4 suggests ED intended to break the final nonet (nine-line stanza) into two quatrains, combining LINES 25-26 into one LINE 25. Her sequence of thoughts certainly begs for a stanza break there:

Alone – if Angels are “alone” –
First time they try the sky!
Alone – if those “veiled faces” – be –
We cannot count – On High!

I’d give – to live that hour – again –
The purple – in my Vein –
But He must count the drops – himself –
My price for every stain!
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ED’s manuscript of this poem fills five pages of her fascicle, more than any preceding poem. It must have been an important poem to her because she continued considering changes in her final fascicle copy, which is atypical of ED.
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• L1: “Again – his voice is at the door –”.  Habegger (1998) tells us “Wadsworth’s deep bass tones, ….., produced an unforgettable effect.”
  .
• L8: “I might surprise his eye!”. ED considered replacing “surprise” with “not please”, which suggests she wanted to please her visitor.
  .
• L10: “I – silent – pass the door –”. ED considered replacing “silent” with “speechless” but didn’t. She certainly was not “speechless” in her conversations (JL342b, 16 August 1870).
  .
• LINE 13: “We talk in careless – and in toss –”. ED considered replacing “careless” with “venture”, but didn’t. Who knows what unspoken words follow “careless” and “toss”. Note that Stanza 4 is a quintain.
  .
• LINES 16-17: “Just – how – deep – / The other’s one – had been –”. ED’s original Lines 16 – 17, written in dark ink with a broad-bibbed pen read, “Just – how – deep – / The other one – had been –”, with no apostrophe “s”.  Perhaps she was implying without stating, “Just – how – deeply in love – / The other one – had been -”.
  .
  She considered replacing “other one – had been” with “other’s foot had been”, editing with lighter ink and a narrow-bibbed pen, perhaps thinking of the cliché “head over heels in love”, but she rejected the idea. Editors have ignored the obvious difference in the two pen tips.

Susan Kornfeld July 11, 2020 at 9:16 AM, [On ‘The Prowing Bee’ blog, TPB]

[ https://bloggingdickinson.blogspot.com/2012/06/again-his-voice-is-at-door.html?showComment=1594484193691#c6232886251522264990 ]

[T]here are too many signals, I think, that the poem refers to some assignation in this earthly life. There is the ‘again’ in the first stanza, there is the conversation as if between two equals and there is the speaker extracting a price from the ‘he’.

Larry B June 11, 2026 at 6:36 AM,  Same TPB URL, [Brackets] mine

Susan, your intuition is right on.
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Habegger (1998) tells us:

“[ED] was in Washington, DC from Saturday, February 10, 1855, to Friday, March 9. She was in Philadelphia from Saturday, March 10 to [at least Monday, March 26]. She and Vinnie probably attended Wadsworth’s sermon on March [25], 1855, their last Sunday in Philadelphia.

“ED saw Rev Wadsworth only three times in her life: [late March 1855, summer 1860, summer 1880]

“After three weeks of Washington, Edward took his daughters to Philadelphia and then went home, leaving Emily and Vinnie to spend at least two weeks with their friend and second cousin, Eliza Coleman, on Nineteenth Street below Chestnut.

“On Saturday, March 10, 1855, ED and Vinnie arrived in Philadelphia after their visit to Washington, DC, with their father. They checked into the Willards Hotel, probably for one night, and [he] then left them with their friend and second cousin, Eliza Coleman, and returned to Amherst. They stayed with Eliza for two more Sundays, the 18th and 25th. On one of those Sundays, probably March 18 [My guess is March 25, ED’s last Sunday in Philadelphia], Eliza took them to Arch Street Presbyterian Church to hear the famous Rev Charles Wadsworth preach. One sermon was all it took, ED fell in “love”. After preaching, Wadsworth’s habit was to sit bowed at his pulpit, lost in thought; she probably did not meet him personally after the service.”
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Sometime after 1855, ED began correspondence with Wadsworth, probably by asking him for counsel concerning her mother’s illness. She continued corresponding with him, and he visited her twice at her home in Amherst, probably during the summers of 1860 and 1880.

Habegger (`1998) presents compelling evidence, and I agree, that Wadsworth, 16 years ED’s senior, was the recipient of the three Master Letters, which Franklin dated “about 1858”, “about 1861”, and “early 1862”.

There’s one surviving letter from Wadsworth to ED, probably dated soon after he received ML1. In his letter he misspelled her last name and expressed sincere pastoral concern about her health, probably based on the alarming tone of ML1.

I believe that this poem, “Again – his voice is at the door –”, concerns Wadsworth’s summer 1860 visit with ED. The first word in the poem, “Again”, refers to the first time she heard his voice, on Sunday, March 25, 1855, at Arch Street Presbyterian in Philadelphia. As far as we know, his only other visit with ED in Amherst was during summer, 1880.
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Susan KornfeldJune 11, 2026 at 10:18 AM on TPB

Thank you for this and your earlier commentary. You make a strong case for Wadsworth!

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Habegger, Alfred. 1998. My Wars Are Laid Away in Books (p. 373). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.