Of their peculiar light by Emily Dickinson

Из им присущего огня
мной луч храним,
чтоб просветлять меня
искать их с ним...




[David Preest:
There are two versions of this poem. One, printed by Johnson,
comes in a letter(L470) to Thomas Higginson in which Emily
alludes to the deaths of Mrs Higginson’s father and of her
own father. If the two fathers are the ‘they’ of the poem,
Emily will be suggesting to Mrs Higginson that keeping one ray
‘of their peculiar light’ will enable them to see their fathers
better in their imagination. The second version, printed
by Franklin, comes in a letter to an unidentified correspondent
which was never sent. This second version changes the ‘their’
in line 1 to ‘his,’ and the ‘I’ of line 2 to ‘we.’ As the poem
is introduced by the words, ‘Thank you for the Delight.
The Book is fair and lonely, like a Memoir of Evening,’ Emily is
presumably referring to the author of the book in the word ‘his.’]

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Of their peculiar light by Emily Dickinson

Of their peculiar light         
I keep one ray               
To clarify the Sight            
To seek them by --