Friday, April 14, 2006

Emily Dickinson says it all

Emily Dickinson is one of my fave poets. She makes so much sense. I have a book with some selected poems in my library. Although she lived in the 1800s, she tackled some hot-button issues that we deal with today:

"The right to perish might be thought
An undisputed right.
Attempt it, and the Universe upon the opposite
Will concentrate its officers...."

For a lot of us working and studying constantly in the name of future success, have you ever thought?

"How happy is the little stone
That rambles in the road alone,
And doesn't care about careers,
And exigencies never fears...."

On broken hearts, and broken relationships:

"Proud of my broken heart since thou didst break it,
Proud of the pain I did not feel till thee...."

and

"We outgrow love like other things
And put it in the drawer...."

and

"Heart, we will forget him!
You and I, tonight!
You may forget the warmth he gave,
I will forget the light...."

And in my journey through life I often feel that:

"Heaven is what I cannot reach!
The apple on the tree,
Provided it do hopeless hang,
That 'heaven' is, to me...."

Here are the lines that struck a major chord in me, I even memorized it!

"Hope is the thing with feathers,
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all...."

And finally, in praise of those bound volumes we read:

"There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
No coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry...."

Just one last inspiring one!

"If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain."

A lofty aspiration, that's enough to think about.

4 comments:

Girl next door said...

Thanx!

Elle said...

I Love Emily Dickinson's poems too - she has this amazing ability to capture a feeling and express it in the fewest words possible... from sweet sentiments, like the one you've expressed about hope, to passionate sentiments like:

Wild nights - wild nights!
Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury

to profound thoughts like:

They say that time assuages
Time never did assuage
An actual suffering strengthens
As sinews do, with age.

Thanks for the reminder.

Girl next door said...

@ Mama mia,
I'm glad you love her poems too! it's definitely amazing how her words capture a broad range of feelings. And the poem on "time never did assuage" is one of my favorites too.

Girl next door said...

@ Labelle,
True! poetry is so powerful.