As if I asked a common Alms — Moses

And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? (EXO 3:11)

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven (MAT 6:10).

Dickinson asked the Orient, a mystic field in poetry, but editors could not recognize her riddle poems, and pressed her with purple dikes, imperial obstacles.

As if I asked a common Alms,1
And in my wondering hand
A Stranger pressed a Kingdom,
And I, bewildered, stand-
As if I asked the Orient 5
Had it for me a Morn-
And it should lift its purple Dikes,
And shatter me with Dawn!
(F.14/J.323)
[1] Alms:: a charitable act, to read her poems.
[2] wondering hand:: amazing skill in writing.
[3] Stranger:: a non-member of a society (OED 5a); a stranger in the field of riddle poems. Kingdom:: authority of a ruler; the power of editor or preceptor.
[4] stand:: to resist.
[5] Orient:: a mystic place, a new field in poetry with mystic words, riddles.
[6] morn:: a new beginning.
[7] purple:: imperial. Dikes:: bars, obstacles. lift, Dikes:: to open one's mind.
[8] Dawn:: what appears first in one's mind. shatter, Dawn:: to shock her with an understanding of her riddle poems.