I Felt a Funeral in my Brain by Emily Dickinson

So today is the anniversary of the terrorist attack on America. 9/11/01.  I'll just say, Never Forget.
Anyways, yesterday in my poetry class my teacher brought this Emily Dickinson poem up.  I have read it before and liked it but didn't realize how much I liked it until when she started writing it that I found that I could remember most of the words.  Anyways, so I thought I'd share it here on this sad day.  Enjoy. ~T

I felt a funeral in my brain,
        And mourners, to and fro,
Kept treading, treading, till it seemed
        That sense was breaking through.
And when they all were seated,
        A service like a drum
Kept beating, beating, till I thought
        My mind was going numb.
And then I heard them lift a box,
        And creak across my soul
With those same boots of lead,
        Then space began to toll
As all the heavens were a bell,
        And Being but an ear,
And I and silence some strange race,
        Wrecked, solitary, here.
And then a plank in reason, broke,
        And I dropped down and down--
And hit a world at every plunge,
        And finished knowing--then--

Emily

Emily knew
what I did not
and as she rose
to the tombstone pedestal
I envied her
I loved her
I buried her
Deep in my heart
in the far regions
so I wouldn't
see her
and wouldn't know
I couldn't be her.

Success is counted sweetest by Emily Dickinson

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,

As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear.



Thought I would post a poem that wasn't mine. The great Emily Dickinson. She has such wonderful rhythm to her poetry. We are studying Emily Dickinson's poetry in my poetry class currently. That's also why I picked another poem of hers to share. =) ~T

Love poem XXXVII of Emily Dickinson's

Gonna give ya one of Emily's AND one of mine today. Emily first though. :) enjoy. ~T

Love is anterior to life
Posterior to death
Initial to creation, and
the exponent of breath.

Love poem of Emily Dickinson

It's all I have to bring to-day,
This, and my heart beside,
This, and my heart, and all the fields,
And all the meadows wide.
Be sure you count, should I forget,--
Some one the sun could tell,--
This, and my heart, and all the bees
Which in the clover dwell.


I love reading Emily Dickinson poetry. She uses similar rhythm to her poetry as I do in mine and it flows so easily from my tongue. ~T