An untitled poem by Emily Dickinson about an eclipse

     In her poetic and scientifically illuminating 19th-century guide to viewing a total solar eclipse Mabel Loomis Todd wrote:

A vast, palpable presence seems overwhelming the world. The blue sky changes to gray or dull purple, speedily becoming more dusky, and a death-like trance seizes upon everything earthly.

To read "What to Look for During a Total Solar Eclipse: Mabel Loomis Todd's Poetic 19th-Century Guide to Totality, with Help from Emily Dickinson" by Maria Popova, the founder of Brain Pickings, click here.
     The following is an untitled poem by Emily Dickinson that, as Maria Popova wrote in her aforementioned article, "captures the scintillating surreality of an eclipse in eight perfect lines":

     It sounded as if the Streets were running
     And then -- the Streets stood still --
     Eclipse -- was all we could see at the Window
     And Awe -- was all we could feel.

     By and by -- the boldest stole out of his Covert
     To see if Time was there --
     Nature was in an Opal Apron,
     Mixing fresher Air.

Emily Dickinson