the joy of quoting Emily Dickinson
May 15, the anniversary of Emily Dickinson's death, is sometimes marked in Amherst by a walk from her home to her burial site, with readings of her poems along the way. This year, the Emily Dickinson Museum and the Massachusetts Poetry Festival co-sponsored what they billed as a "virtual walk" -- an online program of Dickinson poems read by poets who also read poems of their own, accompanied by period photographs, manuscript pages and other visual elements relating to the poet's life.
This is one of the poems they read yesterday:
A little bread—a crust—a crumb—
A little trust—a demijohn—
Can keep the soul alive—
Not portly, mind! but breathing—warm—
Conscious—as old Napoleon,
The night before the Crown!
A modest lot—A fame petite—
A brief Campaign of sting and sweet
Is plenty! Is enough!
A Sailor’s business is the shore!
A Soldier’s—balls! Who asketh more,
Must seek the neighboring life!
It made my day to realize that every time we exclaim, "A Soldier's -- balls!" we are quoting Emily Dickinson.
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