There's been a death in the opposite house <br /> As lately as to-day. <br />I know it by the numb look <br /> Such houses have alway. <br /> <br />The neighbors rustle in and out, <br /> The doctor drives away. <br />A window opens like a pod, <br /> Abrupt, mechanically; <br /> <br />Somebody flings a mattress out,-- <br /> The children hurry by; <br />They wonder if It died on that,-- <br /> I used to when a boy. <br /> <br />The minister goes stiffly in <br /> As if the house were his, <br />And he owned all the mourners now, <br /> And little boys besides; <br /> <br />And then the milliner, and the man <br /> Of the appalling trade, <br />To take the measure of the house. <br /> There'll be that dark parade <br /> <br />Of tassels and of coaches soon; <br /> It's easy as a sign,-- <br />The intuition of the news <br /> In just a country town.<br /><br />Emily Dickinson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/there-s-been-a-death-in-the-opposite-house/
