Source identified1
“The bustle in a house The morning after death Is solemnest of industries Enacted upon earth.”
Ordinary household activity after a death is portrayed as solemn work, emphasizing the practical tasks that continue while grief has only just begun.
Source note: Poem in Poems: First Series (1890), Project Gutenberg #12242. “The Bustle in a House” is used as an editorial first-line source identifier; the poem continues from physical tasks toward putting love away for eternity.