| Because I could not stop for Death, | |
| He kindly stopped for me; | |
| The carriage held but just ourselves | |
| And Immortality. | |
| |
| We slowly drove, he knew no haste, | 5 |
| And I had put away | |
| My labor, and my leisure too, | |
| For his civility. | |
| |
| We passed the school, where children strove | |
| At recess, in the ring; | 10 |
| We passed the fields of gazing grain, | |
| We passed the setting sun. | |
| |
| Or rather, be passed us; | |
| The dews grew quivering and chill, | |
| For only gossamer my gown, | 15 |
| My tippet only tulle. | |
| |
| We paused before house that seemed | |
| A swelling of the ground; | |
| The roof was scarcely visible, | |
| The cornice but a mound. | 20 |
| |
| Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each | |
| Feels shorter than the day | |
| I first surmised the horses' heads | |
| Were toward eternity. | |