Verse > Emily Dickinson > Complete Poems > I. Life > 127. “The bone that has no marrow”
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Emily Dickinson (1830–86).  Complete Poems.  1924.

Part One: Life

CXXVII

THE BONE that has no marrow;
  What ultimate for that?
It is not fit for table,
  For beggar, or for cat.
  
A bone has obligations,        5
  A being has the same;
A marrowless assembly
  Is culpabler than shame.
  
But how shall finished creatures
  A function fresh obtain?—        10
Old Nicodemus’ phantom
  Confronting us again!

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