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Sunday, March 27, 2022

That Thing With Feathers

 
—Photo by Katy Brown, Davis, CA
 


“Hope” is the thing with feathers - (314)
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

“Hope” is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I’ve heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet—never—in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of me.

____________________

—Medusa, with thanks to Katy Brown for her dash of hope in a poppy this morning ~

March 31 is the end of Women’s History Month. “Providing Healing, Promoting Hope” is this year’s theme; for more about that, see nationalwomenshistoryalliance.org/2022-theme/. For two articles about poetry and the healing and hope it can provide, go to “Poetry, Permeability, and Healing” by Jane Hirschfield (poets.org/text/poetry-permeability-and-healing/) and “Finding the Words to Say It: The Healing Power of Poetry” by Robert Carroll at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1142208/.