CHOICE

Of all the souls that stand create

I have elected one.

When sense from spirit flies away,

And subterfuge is done;

When that which is and that which was

Apart, intrinsic, stand,

And this brief tragedy of flesh

Is shifted like a sand;

When figures show their royal front

And mists are carved away,—

Behold the atom I preferred

To all the lists of clay!

Emily Dickinson