Removed from Accident of Loss

Removed from Accident of Loss
By Accident of Gain
Befalling not my simple Days –
Myself had just to earn –

Of riches – as unconscious
As is the Brown Malay
Of Pearls in Eastern Waters,
Marked His – What Holiday

Would stir his slow conception –
Had he the power to dream
That but the Dower’s fraction –
Awaited even – Him –

Emily Dickinson, ‘Removed from Accident of Loss’ (c.1862)