The Props assist the House by Emily Dickinson

Подпорки держат дом,
пока он не готов,-
их уберут потом,
и, стройный от основ,
     дом держит сам себя,
     в помине исчезать
     бураву, да и плотнику...
     Такой лишь взгляд назад
созиждет цельной жизнь,-
быльём доски, гвоздя,
жданья... потом леса падут,
тем Душу утвердя.




(Эмили - к Сью.)
[David Preest:
This poem, originally written in 1863 but copied to Sue in 1869,
consists of two sentences, lines 1-7 describing the removal of
‘the Props’ when the House has been built, and lines 8-12 using
this as a simile for the removal of the scaffolding from the Soul
when it has been ‘perfected.’ If Emily is writing about her own soul,
Richard Sewall is probably right to suggest that the poem refers
to 1863 when she lived through a time of terror but reached
equilibrium. In that time of terror she had spoken of Auger-like
‘Gimlets’ in poem 244, told of when ‘a Plank’ in Reason broke’ in
poem 280, and in a letter (L281) said that ‘that old nail in my
breast pricked me’ (the italicised words all reappearing in lines
7-10 of this poem). Alternatively, it could refer to her more
general development as a unique human being and poet, the props
being the family, schools and community which had nurtured her, and
the removal of the props being her decision on reaching maturity to
give up social and matrimonial norms for a private life as a poet.]

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The Props assist the House by Emily Dickinson

The Props assist the House               
Until the House is built               
And then the Props withdraw               
And adequate, erect,               
     The House support itself               
     And cease to recollect               
     The Auger and the Carpenter --            
     Just such a retrospect               
Hath the perfected Life --               
A past of Plank and Nail               
And slowness -- then the Scaffolds drop   
Affirming it a Soul.