A Prison gets to be a friend —

A Prison gets to be a friend —
Between its Ponderous face
And Ours — a Kinsmanship express —
And in its narrow Eyes —

We come to look with gratitude
For the appointed Beam
It deal us — stated as our food —
And hungered for — the same —

We learn to know the Planks —
That answer to Our feet —
So miserable a sound — at first —
Nor ever now — so sweet —

As plashing in the Pools —
When Memory was a Boy —
But a Demurer Circuit —
A Geometric Joy —

The Posture of the Key
That interrupt the Day
To Our Endeavor — Not so real
The Check of Liberty —

As this Phantasm Steel —
Whose features — Day and Night —
Are present to us — as Our Own —
And as escapeless — quite —

The narrow Round — the Stint —
The slow exchange of Hope —
For something passiver — Content
Too steep for looking up —

The Liberty we knew
Avoided — like a Dream —
Too wide for any Night but Heaven —
If That — indeed — redeem —

Emily Dickinson

Emily compares polar life to prison life.

A Prison becomes a friend —
Between its grave face
And in its narrow crevices
Our faces express a Kinsmanship—

We come to look with gratitude
For the punctual Beam
It ration us regularly as our food —
And we desired the same food —

We learn to know the Floorboard —
That response to our feet
Sounds so miserable at first —
Nor ever now so sweet —

As plashing in the Pools —
When Memory was a Boy —
A quiet Ripple was
A Geometric Joy —

The Posture of the Key
That interrupt the Day
To Our Endeavor — The Check
Of Liberty not so real—

As this Haunting Steel —
Whose appearance — Day and Night —
Are present to us as Our Own —
And as quite escapeless ——

The narrow Space and the Bound —
The slow exchange of Hope —
For something passiver — Content
Too steep for looking up —

The Liberty we knew
Avoided like a Dream —
It’s too long for any Night without Heaven
To compensate us —