Happy Birthday, Emily!

Emily_Dickinson

Today Emily Dickinson turns 190.

EMILY DICKINSON

1488
Birthday of but a single pang
That there are less to come -
Afflictive is the Adjective
But affluent the doom -

***

903
I hide myself – within my flower,
That fading from your Vase -
You – unsuspecting – feel for me -
Almost – a loneliness -

407
If What we Could – were what we would -
Criterion – be small -
It is the Ultimate of Talk -
The Impotence to Tell -

***

1577
Morning is due to all -
To some – the Night -
To an imperial few -
The Auroral Light -

***

1294
Of Life to own -
From Life to draw -
But never touch the Reservoir -

***

1553
Bliss is the Plaything of the child -
The secret of the man
The sacred stealth of Boy and Girl
Rebuke it if we can

***

1765
That Love is all there is
Is all we know of Love,
It is enough, the freight should be
Proportioned to the groove.

***

1774
Too happy Time dissolves itself
And leaves no remnant by -
‘Tis Anguish not a Feather hath
Or too much weight to fly -

The translation in Italian of these poems can be found here.

Picture form Wikimedia Commons