Emily Dickinson
“Not knowing when the Dawn will come,I open every Door,”
manuscript, c. 1884
Documented source
Attribution
Emily Dickinson
Source
manuscript, c. 1884
In full
“Not knowing when the Dawn will come,I open every Door,”
Status
Public domain in the United States
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About this line
A late, four-line poem Dickinson fair-copied around 1884. Not knowing when the dawn will come — or the bird, or the tide — she opens every door anyway. A small, stubborn act of readiness: you can’t schedule the good thing, so you stay open to it.
Why we carry this line
This one got me. Opening every door because you’re not sure, not because you are — effort and faith in one line.
Objects carrying this line
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