Tis Customary as We Part
poem 440
love
memory
lyric poem
playful
‘Tis customary as we part A trinket to confer It helps to stimulate the faith When Lovers be afar ‘Tis various as the various taste Clematis journeying far Presents me with a single Curl Of her Electric Hair
Tis Customary as We Part - meaning Summary
Gift as Sustaining Bond
The poem reflects on the ritual of giving small keepsakes when lovers part. Dickinson treats the trinket as a practical aid to faith and emotional connection across distance, noting how gifts vary with taste. The speaker playfully describes receiving a single curl from a beloved, calling it both ordinary and charged—an “Electric” fragment that preserves intimacy and memory while lovers are apart.
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