Published on Academy of American Poets (https://poets.org)

We never know how high we are (1176)

We never know how high we are
  Till we are called to rise;
And then, if we are true to plan,
  Our statures touch the skies—

The Heroism we recite
  Would be a daily thing,
Did not ourselves the Cubits warp
  For fear to be a King—

Credit

This poem appeared in Poem-a-Day on April 20, 2013. This poem is in the public domain.

Author

Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts. While she was extremely prolific as a poet and regularly enclosed poems in letters to friends, she was not publicly recognized during her lifetime. She died in Amherst in 1886, and the first volume of her work was published posthumously in 1890.

Date Published: 1890-01-01

Source URL: https://poets.org/poem/we-never-know-how-high-we-are-1176