Manic Monday this week is “Lie”. I kept trying to find something humorous or light to do, but this word just wouldn’t let me. You are on your own with this one folks. Below is one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems. It expresses everything I see in the news these days of the people who lie and the dead who lie down, but you will have to come to your own interpretation since The Belle of Amhearst writes to every individual heart.
IT WAS NOT DEATH
It was not death, for I stood up,
And all the dead lie down;
It was not night, for all the bells
Put out their tongues, for noon.It was not frost, for on my flesh
I felt siroccos crawl, –
Nor fire, for just my marble feet
Could keep a chancel cool.And yet it tasted like them all;
The figures I have seen
Set orderly, for burial,
Reminded me of mine,As if my life were shaven
And fitted to a frame,
And could not breathe without a key;
And ’twas like midnight, some,When everything that ticked has stopped,
And space stares, all around,
Or grisly frosts, first autumn morns
Repeal the beating ground.But most like chaos – stopless, cool, –
Without a chance or spar,
Or even a report of land
To justify despair.
GREEN FIELDS OF FRANCE (This is one of the most powerful anti-war songs ever written, because it honors the soldier while damning the war. Do not play until you are ready to cry.) Just so you understand it, “Last Post” and “Flowers of the Forest” are played for British service members.
Leave a Reply