Go not too near a House of Rose by Emily Dickinson

Приюта розы не разрушь
налётным ветерком,
иль нахлынью обильных рос
встревожив тот укром...

Не пробуй бабочку связать,
обвить решётку вышних строф,-
в небезопасности лежать
хранимой выси чувств и слов.





(Не нарушайте уединения поэта,
не лезьте в его тюрьму...)

[David Preest:
This poem is the whole of a letter sent to Mrs Edward Tuckermann
in July 1878 and introduced by the sentences, ‘Would it be prudent
to subject an apparitional interviews to a grosser test? The Bible
portentously says, “that which is Spirit is Spirit” (L558).’
Judith Farr (G) convincingly suggests that Mrs Tuckermann has
proposed coming to see Emily, and that Emily is replying by saying
that it would not be wise to subject the ‘apparitional interviews’
of their letters to the ‘grosser test’ of a face to face meeting.
For Emily is as fragile as a Rose, as untouchable as a Butterfly
and Mr Tuckermann’s Joy in her will be more lasting if she does not
try to climb into Emily’s ‘magic Prison’ (see poem 1601).
Or, as Emily begins her next letter to Mrs Tuckermann by saying,
‘To see is perhaps never quite the sorcery that it is to surmise
(L565).’ The quotation ‘that which is Spirit is Spirit’ is from
Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus (John 3:6), and hints that the poem
is also saying that the unseen spiritual world can be destroyed
if subjected to the observations and experiments of science.]

******************************************
Go not too near a House of Rose -- by Emily Dickinson

Go not too near a House of Rose --   
The depredation of a Breeze --      
Or inundation of a Dew               
Alarms its walls away --            

Nor try to tie the Butterfly,       
Nor climb the Bars of Ecstasy,      
In insecurity to lie               
Is Joy's insuring quality.