The Chariot

Because I could not stop for Death,

He kindly stopped for me;

The carriage held but just

And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,

And I had put

My labor, and my leisure too,

For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,

Their lessons scarcely done;

We passed the fields of gazing grain,

We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemedA swelling of the ground;

The roof was scarcely visible,

The cornice but a mound.

Since then 't is centuries; but

Feels shorter than the dayI first surmised the horses'

Were toward eternity.

Early editors of this poem dropped the fourth stanza, which is, unfortunately, reproduced widely without it:

Or rather, he passed us;

The dews grew quivering and chill,

For only gossamer my gown,

My tippet only tulle.