I know that He exists. (365)

I know that He exists.

Somewhere – in silence –

He has hid his rare life

From our gross eyes.

’Tis an instant’s play –

’Tis a fond Ambush –

Just to make Bliss

Earn her own surprise!

But – should the play

Prove piercing earnest –

Should the glee – glaze –

In Death’s – stiff – stare –

Would not the fun

Look too expensive!

Would not the jest –

Have crawled too far!

Source: The Poems of Emily Dickinson Edited by R. W. Franklin (Harvard University Press, 1999)