When I was small, a Woman died — Nancy Lincoln

While the world focused on a great man, Dickinson saw a mother's pride. Potomac and Maryland hint at Washington, and Lincoln was the president when Dickinson wrote this poem.

When I was small, a Woman died－¹
Today－her Only Boy
Went up from the Potomac－
His face all Victory

To look at her－How slowly ⁵
The Seasons must have turned
Till Bullets clipt an Angle
And He passed quickly round－

If pride shall be in Paradise－⁹
Ourself cannot decide－
Of their imperial Conduct－
No person testified－

But, proud in Apparition－¹³
That Woman and her Boy
Pass back and forth, before my Brain
As even in the sky－

I'm confident that Bravoes－¹⁷
Perpetual break abroad
For Braveries, remote as this
In Scarlet Maryland－

(F.518/J.596)

[1] a Woman died:: Nancy Hanks Lincoln (1784-1818), mother of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865).
[2] Her only Boy:: Nancy had a son and a daughter.
[4] all Victory:: Lincoln won the presidency in 1861. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) wrote this poem around 1863.
[7, 8] Bullets, passed:: the Civil War (1861-1865).
[13-15] proud, Woman, her Boy, brain:: Dickinson saw the mother's pride.
[3, 20] Potomac, Maryland:: a hint on Washington, D.C.