Dictionary Poems

What does little birdie sayIn her nest at peep of day?Let me fly, says little birdie,Mother, let me fly away.Birdie, rest a little longer,Till thy little wings are stronger.So she rests a little longer,Then she flies away. What does little baby say,In her bed at peep of day?Baby says, like little birdie,Let me rise and … Continued

‘CALL down the hawk from the air;Let him be hooded or cagedTill the yellow eye has grown mild,For larder and spit are bare,The old cook enraged,The scullion gone wild.’‘I will not be clapped in a hood,Nor a cage, nor alight upon wrist,Now I have learnt to be proudHovering over the woodIn the broken mistOr tumbling … Continued

Now this particular girlDuring a ceremonious april walkWith her latest suitorFound herself, of a sudden, intolerably struckBy the bird’s irregular babelAnd the leaves’ litter. By this tumult afflicted, sheObserved her lover’s gestures unbalance the air,His gait stray unevenThrough a rank wilderness of fern and flower;She judged petals in disarray,The whole season, sloven. How she longed … Continued

My first I wed when just sixteenAnd he was sixty-five.He treated me like any queenThe years he was alive.Oh I betrayed him on the sly,Like any other bitch,and how I longed for him to dieAnd leave me young and rich! My second is a gigoloI took when I was old;That he deceives me well I … Continued

From torrid heat to frigid cold I’ve rovered land and sea;And now, with halting heart I hold My grandchild on my knee:Yet while I’ve eighty years all told, Of moons she has but three. She sleeps, that fragile miniature Of future maidenhood;She will be wonderful, I’m sure, As over her I brood;She is so innocent, … Continued

No brigadier throughout the yearSo civic as the jay.A neighbor and a warrior too,With shrill felicity Pursuing winds that censure usA February day,The brother of the universeWas never blown away. The snow and he are intimate;I ‘ve often seen them playWhen heaven looked upon us allWith such severity, I felt apology were dueTo an insulted … Continued

Would it be loss or gainTo hapless human-kindIf we could feel no painOf body or of mind?Would it be for our goodIf we were calloused so,And God in mercy shouldEnd all our woe? I wonder and I doubt:It is my bright beliefWe should be poor withoutThe gift of grief.For suffering may beA blessing, not a … Continued

I held a jewel in my fingersAnd went to sleep.The day was warm, and winds were prosy;I said: ‘T will keep. I woke and chid my honest fingers, —The gem was gone;And now an amethyst remembranceIs all I own. – THE LOST JEWEL – I held a jewel in my fingers by Emily Dickinson

Because I was a woman lone And had of friends so few,I made two little ones my own, Whose parents no one knew;Unwanted foundlings of the night, Left at the convent door,Whose tiny hands in piteous plight Seemed to implore. By Deed to them I gave my name, And never will they knowThat from the … Continued

That I did always love,I bring thee proof:That till I lovedI did not love enough. That I shall love alway,I offer theeThat love is life,And life hath immortality. This, dost thou doubt, sweet?Then have INothing to showBut Calvary. – PROOF – That I did always love by Emily Dickinson