Emily Dickinson | Death Leaves Us Homesick, Who Behind
The following poem by Dickinson attempts to explore the emotions those of us feel who have lost a loved one. Dickinson likens feelings of bereavement to that of homesickness, as if to say the departed are like a home which we are far away from and cannot get to. Her observations, I think, are well-reasoned. Furthermore, she elaborates on her homesick metaphor in the second stanza by characterizing how we, “who behind”, continue to grieve — by going to the former “Places” of our loved ones’ lives. Sadly, Dickinson’s final words of this poem couldn’t be more true as she poetically states we can only continue searching and visiting those places, for those we lost we can never truly find again in this life.
Death Leaves Us Homesick, Who Behind
Death leaves Us homesick, who behind,
Except that it is gone
Are ignorant of its Concern
As if it were not born.
Through all their former Places, we
Like Individuals go
Who something lost, the seeking for
Is all that’s left them, now—
–Emily Dickinson
Tags: Death Leaves Us Homesick, death poetry, Emily Dickinson
