Literature Network » Emily Dickinson » Poems, Series 3 » XI. If the foolish call them 'flowers,'

XI. If the foolish call them 'flowers,'

IF the foolish call them 'flowers,'
        Need the wiser tell?
If the savans 'classify' them,
        It is just as well!

Those who read the Revelations
        Must not criticise
Those who read the same edition
        With beclouded eyes!

Could we stand with that old Moses
        Canaan denied, --
Scan, like him, the stately landscape
        On the other side, --

Doubtless we should deem superfluous
        Many sciences
Not pursued by learnèd angels
        In scholastic skies!

Low amid that glad Belles lettres
        Grant that we may stand,
Stars, amid profound Galaxies,
        At that grand 'Right hand'!

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