Poems (Dickinson)/The heart asks pleasure first

by Emily Dickinson

For other versions of this work, see The Heart asks Pleasure—first—.

IX.

The heart asks pleasure first,
And then, excuse from pain;
And then, those little anodynes
That deaden suffering;

And then, to go to sleep;
And then, if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor,
The liberty to die.