I Died for Beauty

[From “ Anna Palmer” —there’s a whole backstory to this pseudonym for another day—in New Delhi ]

“I died for beauty, but was scarce

Adjusted in the tomb,

When one who died for truth was lain

In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?

"For beauty," I replied.

"And I for truth - the two are one;

We brethren are," he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a-night,

We talked between the rooms,

Until the moss had reached our lips,

And covered up our names. “

- Emily Dickinson