Emily Dickinson

The Complete Poems [1924]

He preached upon `breadth'

HE preached upon "breadth" till it argued him narrow,--
The broad are too broad to define:
And of "truth" until it proclaimed him a liar,--
The truth never flaunted a sign.

Simplicity fled from his counterfeit presence
As gold the pyrites would shun.
What confusion would cover the innocent Jesus
To meet so enabled a man!