"As imperceptibly as grief". By Dickinson, Emily. As imperceptibly as grief The summer lapsed away, - Too imperceptible, at last, To seem like perfidy. A quietness distilled, As twilight long began, Or Nature, spending with herself Sequestered afternoon. The dusk drew earlier in, The morning foreign shone, - A courteous, yet harrowing grace, As guest who would be gone. And thus, without a wing, Or service of a keel, Our summer made her light escape Into the beautiful.