I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
‘For beauty,’ I replied.
‘And I for truth, — the two are one;
We brethren are,’ he said.

And so, as kinsmen met at night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.

Emily Dickinson, “Two Ghosts Converse,” The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Series Two, 1896

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Categories: Poetry and Prose

Tags: 1890's, 19th Century, Calvary Cemetery, Emily Dickinson, ghosts, Halloween poems, Halloween poetry, New York, poems, poetry, Victorian