As prepared for delivery:
This World is not Conclusion.
A Species stands beyond -
Invisible, as Music -
But positive, as Sound -
It beckons, and it baffles -
Philosophy, don’t know -
And through a Riddle, at the last -
Sagacity, must go -
To guess it, puzzles scholars -
To gain it, Men have borne
Contempt of Generations
And Crucifixion, shown -
Faith slips - and laughs, and rallies -
Blushes, if any see -
Plucks at a twig of Evidence -
And asks a Vane, the way -
Much Gesture, from the Pulpit -
Strong Hallelujahs roll -
Narcotics cannot still the Tooth
That nibbles at the soul -
I first encountered this Emily Dickinson poem my freshman year, across the yard in Boylston Hall. Immediately, I fell in love. I underlined the opening phrase and annotated it with my scholarly best: O.M.G.
This poem followed me through college. During my first finals, it became a reminder that my stressors would pass: this paper was not conclusion. When I ran the Boston Marathon, the poem was running there with me: the pain cave? Thankfully, not conclusion either. Now today, we gather to celebrate not conclusion, but commencement.
I’ll admit that this reframing is hard. For me, Harvard has often felt like an end, rather than a beginning.
I grew up as one of the few openly queer kids in my Minnesota hometown. I applied to Harvard not just for the academic experience, but for the personal space to fully explore who I was, alongside incredible peers from across the world who were all seeking to do the same.
So to finally get here just for Emily Dickinson to tell me that this isn’t conclusion? Thanks, Emily.
But four years later, I can see that’s the paradox we face. The purpose of our time here really starts today, as we leave campus. Especially as we leave a much different campus than the one we entered, with Harvard at the center of a fight over higher education in America.
But amid the noise, let us not forget: this community—our community—has led the way through chaos before. These halls sheltered troops during the American Revolution, as Harvard alumni imagined a new democracy. During the Great Depression, a Harvard alum created the New Deal, and during the Cold War, it was a Harvard alum who inspired us all by dreaming to put a man on the moon. All of this, our alumni achieved not in service of themselves or ideology, but in service of others in times of great national need. Today, we too, find ourselves in those times of great need, but this world, this world is not conclusion. A species stands beyond. If only we follow in the footsteps of our alumni and truly use our education in service of the greater good, the world that comes out of this will be a better one.
You can try to shirk this charge of service, but Emily Dickinson warns that it will chase you down. Narcotics cannot still the Tooth, That nibbles at the soul. I pray, in whatever world finds you next, in whatever stands beyond Harvard, when that tooth bites, listen to what it tells you. Because this world is not conclusion. Class of 2025, it is commencement.’
