Poems (Dickinson)/Real

by Emily Dickinson

For other versions of this work, see I like a look of Agony.

XII.

REAL.

I like a look of agony
Because I know it 's true;
Men do not sham convulsion,
Nor simulate a throe.

The eyes gaze once, and that is death.
Impossible to feign
The beads upon the forehead
By homely anguish strung.