After great pain, a formal feeling comes –
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –
The stiff Heart questions ‘was it He, that bore,'
And ‘Yesterday, or Centuries before'?
The Feet, mechanical, go round –
A Wooden way
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought –
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone –
This is the Hour of Lead –
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow –
First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –
A person who is freezing or in pain remembers what caused them to freeze; the snow (or in Dickinson’s case, the pain). Someone who is grieving is thinking about what caused them to feel their pain.
After great pain a formal feeling comes J341 F372