Could Adamant refuse
So small a Grace
So scanty put,
Such agonizing terms?
Would not a God of Flint
Be conscious of a sigh
As down His Heaven dropt remote
"Just Once" Sweet Deity?
F478 (1862) J1076
Dickinson put this little prayer in a note to Samuel Bowles, urging him to accept a barrel of apples that her mother wanted to send him. Why Dickinson makes it seem as if he is likely to refuse is something of a mystery as he wrote about the gift "from the elder Mrs. Dickinson" and said he found apples "a real treat."
But the poem does double duty. It not only served its purpose at the time of providing a bit of droll flirtation to the beloved Samuel Bowles, but a little poem we can all trot out when praying for our horse to pull ahead.
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