The dropped Like Flakes by Emily Dickinson

They dropped like Flakes -
They dropped like Stars -
Like Petals from a Rose -
When suddenly across the June
A Wind with fingers - goes -
They perished in the Seamless Grass -
No eye could find the place -
But God can summon every face
On his Repealless - List.

Do you believe in afterlife or do you believe that once you die, you will just disappear? Will your sins forgiven? Some people don’t believe in an afterlife; perhaps even think that once humans die, they will automatically disappear from the world forever, as well as their sins. However, Emily Dickinson holds a different belief. She has faith in eternal life, as well as the hope that others will believe in it too.


The first three lines of the poem explain how frail humans are; they easily dropped like flakes, they also dropped like stars. The speaker describes humans’ lifespan as short as rose’s petals that are only sustainable less than a week. It’s also means how humans are weak and easily fall for sins. June is a perfect time for roses to bloom, but since roses only bloom in short period, the rose leads to death. The word “suddenly” in line four, shows the unexpected life of humans; they could die whenever and wherever they are, unpredictably. Of course, the petals of a rose won’t drop only because of gravity but also for the reason that something is taking or pulling the petals. A wind with fingers stands for death that takes the life of humans.

The speaker uses the word ‘fingers’ because humans’ fingers are capable to do actions, such as taking, pulling, giving, etc. As a result, a wind with fingers grasps and pulls everything, dragging every soul from its corporal body, and just goes and disappears to an unknown location. The things that have been pulled are dead and perished into Seamless Grass. “Seamless” shows the condition of transition between life and death, while the Grass is a place for soul to rest but not yet heaven. In Christian belief, this placed is called purgatory, it’s a place where the souls after death either are purified from venial sins or undergo the temporal punishment that, after the guilt of mortal has been remitted, still remains to be endured by the sinners.

“No eye could find the place” means that no living soul shall find purgatory as it’s not yet their time to enter the realm of death. Regarding the word ‘summon’ and ‘Repealless - List’ in the last two lines, the speaker states that souls don’t have to stay forever in purgatory unforgiveable. Seeing that God always has mercy, always forgive humans’ sins and every soul shall live in Heaven and shall feel happiness, as God promised in the book of Genesis.