Poetry Pick

NATURE: XCIV

by Emily Dickinson


High from the earth I heard a bird;
    He trod upon the trees
As he esteemed them trifles,
    And then he spied a breeze,
And situated softly
    Upon a pile of wind
Which in a perturbation
    Nature had left behind.
A joyous-going fellow
    I gathered from his talk,
Which both of benediction
    And badinage partook,
Without apparent burden,
    I learned, in leafy wood
He was the faithful father
    Of a dependent brood;
And this untoward transport
    His remedy for care,—
A contrast to our respites.
    How different we are!

From The Collected Poems
 of Emily Dickinson
(1993)


 

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