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Circuit I - (04) Wild Nights—Wild Nights! (J-0249) (F-0269) Listen to Sea Edge Waves (240K, wav)

(1) Wild nights! Wild nights!     Were I with thee, (2) Wild nights should be   Our luxury! (3) Futile the winds   To a heart in port, — (4) Done with the compass —   Done with the chart! (5) Rowing in Eden!   Ah! the sea! (6) Might I but moor   To-night in thee! (Edited version above as it was first published in 1891. Below: an original manuscript version, without editing or imposed lineation.) (1) Wild Nights – Wild Nights! Were I with thee (2) Wild Nights should be Our luxury! (3) Futile – the winds – To a Heart in port – (4) Done with the Compass – Done with the Chart! (5) Rowing in Eden – Ah – the Sea! (6) Might I but moor – tonight – In Thee! ~ Emily Dickinson ~ 3 Slideshows ~ Waterways! | Geese & Goslings | Algae

Commentary adapted from Emily Dickinson's Poems & Letters

(1) "It is strange that I miss you at night so much when I was never with you." ~ (L #645)

(1-6) "An hour is a sea between a few and me. With them would harbor be!" ~ (J-0825) (F-0898)

(1-6) "Enamored of the parting West — the peace — the flight — the amethyst — Night's possibility." ~ (J-0106) (F-0161)

(3) "To know that there is a shelter, sometimes dissuades it's necessity." ~ (L #485)

(3-4) "I never spoke with God, nor visited in heaven; yet certain am   I of the spot as if the checks [of a chart] were given." ~ (J-1052) (F-0800)

(3-4) "One port suffices for a brig like mine . . . . Ours be the cargo unladed — here — rather than the 'spicy isles' — and thou — not there." ~ (J-0368) (F-0410)

(4 comparative) "The sailor cannot see the North — but knows the needle can." ~ (L #265)

(4-6) "It might have been the lighthouse spark some sailor, rowing in the dark, had importuned to see!" ~ (J-0259) (F-0322)

(5-6) "My garden — like the beach denotes there be — a sea — that's Summer — such as these — the pearls she fetches — such as me." ~ (J-0484) (F-0469)

(5-6) "Were the velocity of affection as perceptible as it's sanctity, day and night would be more affecting." ~ (L #485)

(5-6) "By what mystic mooring she [my bark] is held today — this is the errand of the eye out upon the bay." ~ (J-0052) (F-0033)

(5-6) "For thee to bloom, I'll skip the tomb and row my blossoms o'er! Pray gather me — Anemone — thy flower — forevermore!" ~ (J-0031) (F-0007)

(5-6) "Forgive us, if as days decline — we nearer steal to Thee! Enamored of the parting West — the peace — the flight — the Amethyst — Night's possibility!" ~ (J-0106) (F-0161)

(5-6 compare) Come slowly — Eden! Lips unused to Thee — Bashful — sip thy Jessamines — As the fainting Bee — Reaching late his flower, Round her chamber hums — Counts his nectars — Enters — and is lost in Balms. ~ (J-0211) (F-0205)

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