I was the slightest in the House —

"I was the slightest in the House —" is the first song in Leo Smit's song cycle Childe Emilie. Childe Emilie is the first of Smit's six song cycles setting the poetry of Emily Dickinson.

For more information about Leo Smit's Emily Dickinson song cycles, please visit the pages for The Ecstatic Pilgrimage and Leo Smit.

For inquiries about Leo Smit, please contact Nils Vigeland at [email protected].

Date: 1990Composer: Leo SmitText: Emily DickinsonSong Collection: Childe Emilie

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I was the slightest in the House — (poem 486)
by Emily Dickinson

I was the slightest in the House —
I took the smallest Room —
At night, my little Lamp, and Book —
And one Geranium —

So stationed I could catch the Mint
That never ceased to fall —
And just my Basket —
Let me think — I’m sure —
That this was all —

I never spoke — unless addressed —
And then, ’twas brief and low —
I could not bear to live — aloud —
The Racket shamed me so —

And if it had not been so far —
And any one I knew
Were going — I had often thought
How noteless — I could die —

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