Her final words? For years
She gave thought to them
But here was the difficulty:
Her reputed last murmurings
Would be far from final and
Quite the opposite in fact:
The words in the hidden box,
Those are her final and
Immortal words that won't
Or can't stop for death yet
Those words are still unborn,
Will quicken only when Vinnie
Discovers them and, baffled,
Proffers them to Susan —
So she will say nothing now,
Turning her face to the wall.
The silence is her last refusal.
The death is her next refraction.
* Two poetic phrasings have been described
as Emily's last words: "Called back" and
"I must go in, the fog is rising." But these
appeared as notes composed some time
before her passing. If there were any spoken
words, most likely to her sister Lavinia, no
one knows.