Mom poems
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Had I not This, or This, I said,
© Emily Dickinson
Had I not This, or This, I said,
Appealing to Myself,
In moment of prosperity --
Inadequate -- were Life --
Did Our Best Moment last
© Emily Dickinson
Did Our Best Moment last --
'Twould supersede the Heaven --
A few -- and they by Risk -- procure --
So this Sort -- are not given --
As the Starved Maelstrom laps the Navies
© Emily Dickinson
As the Starved Maelstrom laps the Navies
As the Vulture teased
Forces the Broods in lonely Valleys
As the Tiger eased
A Bee his burnished Carriage
© Emily Dickinson
A Bee his burnished Carriage
Drove boldly to a Rose --
Combinedly alighting --
Himself -- his Carriage was --
'Twould ease -- a Butterfly --
© Emily Dickinson
'Twould ease -- a Butterfly --
Elate -- a Bee --
Thou'rt neither --
Neither -- thy capacity --
The Tint I cannot take -- is best --
© Emily Dickinson
The Tint I cannot take -- is best --
The Color too remote
That I could show it in Bazaar --
A Guinea at a sight --
The Soul has Bandaged moments --
© Emily Dickinson
The Soul has Bandaged moments --
When too appalled to stir --
She feels some ghastly Fright come up
And stop to look at her --
How Human Nature dotes
© Emily Dickinson
How Human Nature dotes
On what it can't detect.
The moment that a Plot is plumbed
Prospective is extinct --
Hope is a strange invention --
© Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention --
A Patent of the Heart --
In unremitting action
Yet never wearing out --
Cocoon above! Cocoon below!
© Emily Dickinson
Cocoon above! Cocoon below!
Stealthy Cocoon, why hide you so
What all the world suspect?
An hour, and gay on every tree
Your secret, perched in ecstasy
Defies imprisonment!
Through those old Grounds of memory,
© Emily Dickinson
Through those old Grounds of memory,
The sauntering alone
Is a divine intemperance
A prudent man would shun.
"Heavenly Father" -- take to thee
© Emily Dickinson
"Heavenly Father" -- take to thee
The supreme iniquity
Fashioned by thy candid Hand
In a moment contraband --
Is it too late to touch you, Dear?
© Emily Dickinson
Is it too late to touch you, Dear?
We this moment knew --
Love Marine and Love terrene --
Love celestial too --
We grow accustomed to the Dark
© Emily Dickinson
We grow accustomed to the Dark --
When light is put away --
As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
To witness her Goodbye --
That after Horror -- that 'twas us
© Emily Dickinson
That after Horror -- that 'twas us --
That passed the mouldering Pier --
Just as the Granite Crumb let go --
Our Savior, by a Hair --
The house where I was born (10)
© Yves Bonnefoy
And then life; and once again
A house where I was born. Around us
The granary above what once had been a church,
The gentle play of shadow from the dawn clouds,
At The Door
© David Wagoner
All actors look for them-the defining moments
When what a character does is what he is.
The script may say, He goes to the door
And exits or She goes out the door stage left.
The Aged Pilot Man
© Mark Twain
On the Erie Canal, it was,
All on a summer's day,
I sailed forth with my parents
Far away to Albany.
The Widening Spell Of Leaves
© Larry Levis
--The Carpathian Frontier, October, 1968
--for my brotherOnce, in a foreign country, I was suddenly ill.
I was driving south toward a large city famous
For so little it had a replica, in concrete,
Those Graves In Rome
© Larry Levis
There are places where the eye can starve,
But not here. Here, for example, is
The Piazza Navona, & here is his narrow room
Overlooking the Steps & the crowds of sunbathing
