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Topic 26 of 53: Emily Dickenson

Sat, Aug 8, 1998 (22:55) | Wolf (wolf)
Post your favorite poems by Emily Dickenson (ok, and maybe your not-so-favorite)
17 responses total.

 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 1 of 17: Wolf  (wolf) * Sat, Aug  8, 1998 (23:09) * 31 lines 
 
Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Because I could not stop for Death--
He kindly stopped for me--
The Carriage held but just Ourselves--
And Immortality--

We slowly drove--He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility--

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess--in the Ring--
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain--
We passed the Setting Sun--

Or rather--He passed Us--
The Dews drew quivering and chill--
For only Gossamer, my Gown--
My Tipper--only Tulle--

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground--
The Roof was scarcely visible--
The Cornice--in the Ground--

Since then--'tis Centuries--and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity--


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 2 of 17: Stacey Vura  (stacey) * Fri, Aug 21, 1998 (16:54) * 2 lines 
 
sing it to the tune of the Yellow Rose of Texas
(EVERYONE must defile poetry in this way once in their lives!!!)


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 3 of 17: Amy Keene  (Irishprincess) * Sat, Nov  6, 1999 (17:54) * 17 lines 
 
Aren't there any Emily fans around here? How unfortunate! My copy of her complete poems is full of little page markers and written-in notes.

What if I say I shall not wait!
What if I burst the fleshly Gate--
And pass escaped--to thee!

What if I file this Mortal--off--
See where it hurt me--That's enough--
And wade in Liberty!

They cannot take me--any more!
Dungeons can call--and Guns implore
Unmeaning--now--to me--

As laughter--was--an hour ago--
Or Laces--or a Travelling Show--
Or who died--yesterday!


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 4 of 17: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Sat, Nov  6, 1999 (19:04) * 1 lines 
 
Amy, I love her, as does John. John is also on Hiatus (all the men I converse with have gone there lately!)...and I cannot bear to read poetry right now...(is that why you never go into Geo even to admire the jewelry or the photos of lava?!)


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 5 of 17: Amy Keene  (Irishprincess) * Sat, Nov  6, 1999 (19:23) * 27 lines 
 
Is what the reason I never go into Geo?

You should relish in a little "melancolie douce"--that's what I'm doing!

You said that I was "Great"--one Day--
Then "Great" it be--if that please Thee--
Or Small--or any size at all--
Nay--I'm the size suit Thee--

Tall--like the Stag--would that?
Or lower--like the Wren--
Or other heights of Other Ones
I've seen?

Tell which--it's dull to guess--
And I must be Rhinoceros
Or Mouse
At once--for Thee--

So say--if Queen it be--
Or Page--please Thee--
I'm that--or nought--
Or other thing--if other thing there be--
With just this Stipulus--
I suit Thee--

(My therapist would have a thing or two to say about this one!)


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 6 of 17: Amy Keene  (Irishprincess) * Sat, Nov  6, 1999 (19:51) * 5 lines 
 
Time does go on--
I tell it gay to those who suffer now--
They shall survive--
There is a sun--
They don't believe it now--


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 7 of 17: Amy Keene  (Irishprincess) * Sat, Nov  6, 1999 (19:54) * 5 lines 
 
Themself are all I have--
Myself a freckled--be--
I thought you'd choose a Velvet Cheek
Or one of Ivory--
Would you--instead of Me?


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 8 of 17: Amy Keene  (Irishprincess) * Sat, Nov  6, 1999 (19:56) * 9 lines 
 
Too scanty 'twas to die for you,
The merest Greek could that.
The living, Sweet, is costlier--
I offer even that--

The Dying, is a trifle, past,
But living, this include
The dying multifold--without
The Respite to be dead.


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 9 of 17: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Sat, Nov  6, 1999 (20:52) * 2 lines 
 
Whose lovely bit of melancholia is that? Very nice, indeed.
(I have no idea what I meant!)


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 10 of 17: Amy Keene  (Irishprincess) * Sat, Nov  6, 1999 (21:07) * 1 lines 
 
Um, this is the Emily Dickinson topic...I took that to mean that all of the poems should be by her...(if that is in fact what you meant by "whose lovely bit of melancholia is that? I'm kind of brain-dead tonight and things aren't making sense like they should.)


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 11 of 17: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Sat, Nov  6, 1999 (21:14) * 1 lines 
 
Oh yeah! Silly me... I told you I was asleep at the switch. I am sure to get flat-lined by an errant Volleyball this evening...it has just been one of those days!!! (I guess you could put poems about Emily Dickenson in here, also...)


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 12 of 17: Wolf  (wolf) * Sat, Nov  6, 1999 (22:11) * 1 lines 
 
i like emily but don't have books around to quote from. please keep posting them!


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 13 of 17: Amy Keene  (Irishprincess) * Sat, Nov  6, 1999 (22:17) * 9 lines 
 
Heart! We will forget him!
You and I--tonight!
You may forget the warmth he gave--
I will forget the light!

When you have done, pray tell me
That I may straight begin!
Haste! lest while you're lagging
I remember him!


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 14 of 17: Amy Keene  (Irishprincess) * Sun, Nov  7, 1999 (14:29) * 19 lines 
 
The only ghost I ever saw
Was dressed in Mechlin--so--
He wore no sandal upon his foot--
And stepped like flakes of snow--

His Gait--was soundless, like the Bird--
But rapid--like the Roe--
His fashions, quaint, Mosaic--
Or haply, Mistletoe--

His conversation--seldom--
His laughter, like the Breeze--
That dies away in Dimples
Among the pensive Trees--

Our interview--was transient--
Of me, himself was shy--
And God forbid I look behind--
Since that appalling Day!


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 15 of 17: Amy Keene  (Irishprincess) * Sun, Nov  7, 1999 (14:34) * 9 lines 
 
That first Day, when you praised Me, Sweet,
And said that I was strong--
And could be mighty, if I liked--
That Day--the Days among--

Glows Central--like a Jewel
Between Diverging Golds--
The Minor One--that gleamed behind--
And Vaster--of the World's.


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 16 of 17: Amy Keene  (Irishprincess) * Sun, Nov  7, 1999 (14:38) * 17 lines 
 
These--saw Visions--
Latch them softly--
These--held Dimples--
Smooth them slow--
This--addressed departing accents--
Quick--Sweet Mouth--to miss thee so--

This--We stroked--
Unnumbered Satin--
These--we held among our own--
Fingers of the Slim Aurora--
Not so arrogant--this Noon--

These--adjust--that ran to meet us--
Pearl--for Stocking--Pearl for Shoe--
Paradise--the only Palace--
Fit for Her reception--now--


 Topic 26 of 53 [poetry]: Emily Dickenson
 Response 17 of 17: Amy Keene  (Irishprincess) * Sun, Nov  7, 1999 (14:46) * 11 lines 
 
(This one has a particularly special meaning for me.)

Each Scar I'll keep for Him
Instead I'll say of Gem
In His long Absence worn
A Costlier one

But every Tear I bore
Were He to count them o'er
His own would fall so more
I'll mis sum them.

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