The Court is far away –
No Umpire – have I –
My Sovreign is offended –
To gain his grace – I’d die!
I’ll seek his royal feet –
I’ll say – Remember – King –
Thou shalt – thyself – one
day – a Child –
Implore a larger – thing –
That Empire – is of Czars –
As small – they say – as I –
Grant me – that day – the
royalty –
To intercede – for Thee –
Link to EDA manuscript. Originally in Packet XXXVII, fascicle 10, ca. 1860-1861. First published in Bolts of Melody (1945), 164, from a transcript of A. Courtesy of Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
This poem is a good example of the short hymn meter, consisting of quatrains of 6686 rhyming abcb, with 7 syllables in line 3, perhaps to indicate the offense taken and, thus, withheld, by the “Sovereign.” Is the “court” here a figure for the court of Heaven, in which God will judge those who appear? “Court” has a double meaning of royal/heavenly and legal arena; Dickinson came from a family of lawyers with judges as family friends.
The poem’s strategy for entitlement involves a reversal we have seen before: the small with the large, a child with a king, the speaker in her guise as accused/sinner/pilgrim, imagining that one day she will have “the royalty – / To intercede – for Thee –.”