Crumbling is not an instant’s Act | A poem by Emily Dickinson, 1860
Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1961
Crumbling is not an instant’s Act
A fundamental pause
Dilapidation’s processes
Are organized Decays —
‘Tis first a Cobweb on the Soul
A Cuticle of Dust
A Borer in the Axis
An Elemental Rust —
Ruin is formal — Devil’s work
Consecutive and slow —
Fail in an instant, no man did
Slipping — is Crashe’s law —
Emily Dickinson, Crumbling is not an instant’s Act, 1860
Also:
Poems on Fragments of Paper | Emily Dickinson, 1830- 86
Wild Nights – Wild Nights! | Emily Dickinson, 1861
One need not be a Chamber to be Haunted | Emily Dickinson, 1830 – 1886