Better -- than Music! For I -- who heard it --I was used -- to the Birds -- before --This -- was different -- 'Twas Translation --Of all tunes I knew -- and more -- 'Twasn't contained -- like other stanza --No one could play it -- the second time --But the Composer -- perfect Mozart --Perish with him -- that Keyless Rhyme! So -- Children -- told how Brooks in Eden --Bubbled a better -- Melody --Quaintly infer -- Eve's great surrender --Urging the feet -- that would -- not -- fly -- Children -- matured -- are wiser -- mostly --Eden -- a legend -- dimly told --Eve -- and the Anguish -- Grandame's story --But -- I was telling a tune -- I heard -- Not such a strain -- the Church -- baptizes --When the last Saint -- goes up the Aisles --Not such a stanza splits the silence --When the Redemption strikes her Bells -- Let me not spill -- its smallest cadence --Humming -- for promise -- when alone --Humming -- until my faint Rehearsal --Drop into tune -- around the Throne --

The work and its creator

Explore the original at PoetryDB ↗

Creator: Emily Dickinson
Nationality / cultural background: American
Work / edition: Before 1886

Historical public-domain poem. Verse and line breaks retained.

In the source: Better -- than Music! For I -- who heard it --

Selected for the Brief on 20 Sep 2026. This date records our selection, rather than when the work was created.