Dictionary Poems

The mushroom is the elf of plants,At evening it is not;At morning in a truffled hutIt stops upon a spot As if it tarried always;And yet its whole careerIs shorter than a snake’s delay,And fleeter than a tare. ‘T is vegetation’s juggler,The germ of alibi;Doth like a bubble antedate,And like a bubble hie. I feel … Continued

Mumsie and Dad are raven dark And I am lily blonde.”Tis strange,’ I once heard nurse remark, ‘You do not correspond.’And yet they claim me as their own, Born of their flesh and bone. To doubt their parenthood I dread, But now to girlhood grown,The thought is haunting in my head That I am not … Continued

Let the rain kiss youLet the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid dropsLet the rain sing you a lullabyThe rain makes still pools on the sidewalkThe rain makes running pools in the gutterThe rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at nightAnd I love the rain. – April Rain Song by … Continued

I THINK we are too ready with complaintIn this fair world of God’s. Had we no hopeIndeed beyond the zenith and the slopeOf yon gray blank of sky, we might grow faintTo muse upon eternity’s constraintRound our aspirant souls; but since the scopeMust widen early, is it well to droop,For a few days consumed in … Continued

Superiority to fate Is difficult to learn.‘T is not conferred by any, But possible to earn A pittance at a time, Until, to her surprise,The soul with strict economy Subsists till Paradise. – SUPERIORITY TO FATE – Superiority to fate by Emily Dickinson

If you were coming in the fall,I’d brush the summer byWith half a smile and half a spurn,As housewives do a fly. If I could see you in a year,I’d wind the months in balls,And put them each in separate drawers,Until their time befalls. If only centuries delayed,I’d count them on my hand,Subtracting till my … Continued

If freckles were lovely, and day was night,And measles were nice and a lie warn’t a lie,Life would be delight, —But things couldn’t go rightFor in such a sad plightI wouldn’t be I. If earth was heaven and now was hence,And past was present, and false was true,There might be some senseBut I’d be in … Continued

Birds are flyin’ south for winter.Here’s the Weird-Bird headin’ north,Wings a-flappin’, beak a-chatterin’,Cold head bobbin’ back ‘n’ forth.He says, "It’s not that I like iceOr freezin’ winds and snowy ground.It’s just sometimes it’s kind of niceTo be the only bird in town." – Weird-Bird by Shel Silverstein

Our lives are Swiss, — So still, so cool, Till, some odd afternoon,The Alps neglect their curtains, And we look farther on. Italy stands the other side, While, like a guard between,The solemn Alps,The siren Alps, Forever intervene! – ALPINE GLOW – Our lives are Swiss by Emily Dickinson

A bird came down the walk:He did not know I saw;He bit an angle-worm in halvesAnd ate the fellow, raw. And then he drank a dewFrom a convenient grass,And then hopped sidewise to the wallTo let a beetle pass. He glanced with rapid eyesThat hurried all abroad, —They looked like frightened beads, I thought;He stirred … Continued