The Bustle in a House

The Bustle in a House

The Morning after Death

Is solemnest of industries

Enacted upon Earth -

The Sweeping up the Heart

And putting Love away

We shall not want to use again

Until Eternity.

Emily Dickinson conveys here a severe sense of loss. That mourning which comes on the morning after Death is an awful thing. One wonders then if it is better to never have loved or to have loved and lost? Though I certainly can't claim to know all the answers I do think, perhaps, that Love ought never to be put away. Certainly at a real physical death there are loves that are stored away, but, if with the hope of Heaven, it must only be a deposit to later be drawn upon. So, yes, one must put Love away for a time, but the beauty of eternity is that it is absolute timelessness. Love may be limited, and put away for the time that is earth but in Heaven we shall love forevermore. God encourages us to return to our first Love. So it must be true that Love can be put away but it is also equally true that it can be recovered.