I Know that He Exists.

I know that He exists.

Somewhere – in silence –

He has hid his rare life

From our gross eyes.

’Tis an instant’s play –

’Tis a fond Ambush –

Just to make Bliss

Earn her own surprise!

But – should the play

Prove piercing earnest –

Should the glee – glaze –

In Death’s – stiff – stare –

Would not the fun

Look too expensive!

Would not the jest –

Have crawled too far!

Dickinson posits the notion that the thought of God and his existence is terrifying when coupled with the contemplation of death. The tone starts out blissfully with the thought of God's existence but quickly changes to dreary with the thought of what death would be like should God not exist. We believe that Dickinson is trying to say that the idea of a god reassures us but when one doesn't believe, death can be a terrifying experience.