I Felt a Funeral in My Brain

By Emily Dickenson

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
 And Mourners to and fro
  Kept treading - treading - till it seemed
   That Sense was breaking through -

    And when they all were seated,
     A Service, like a Drum -
      Kept beating - beating - till I thought
       My mind was going numb -

        And then I heard them lift a Box
         And creak across my Soul
          With those same Boots of Lead, again,
           Then Space - began to toll,

            As all the Heavens were a Bell,
             And Being, but an Ear,
              And I, and Silence, some strange Race,
               Wrecked, solitary, here -

                And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
                 And I dropped down, and down -
                  And hit a World, at every plunge,                    And Finished knowing - then -