Friday, August 24, 2007

I don't mean to make you sad on this Poetry Friday ...

... although this quotation sounds terribly sad:

"As imperceptibly as grief
the summer lapsed away."


It's just so ... so ... so Emily. So perfect.


Here's the whole thing:

As imperceptibly as Grief
The Summer lapsed away—
Too imperceptible at last
To seem like Perfidy—
A Quietness distilled
As Twilight long begun,
Or Nature spending with herself
Sequestered Afternoon—
The Dusk drew earlier in—
The Morning foreign shone—
A courteous, yet harrowing Grace,
As Guest, that would be gone—
And thus, without a Wing
Or service of a Keel
Our Summer made her light escape
Into the Beautiful.

~~ Emily Dickinson

Visit The Book Mine Set for today's complete Poetry Friday Round-up.

9 comments:

Suzanne Temple said...

Great poem Karen, happy Friday!

John Mutford said...

Just as summer seems to finally have made it's way to my Northern neck of the woods (actually there's no woods), it's almost over. Great poem.

Sara said...

Oh, I needed some Emily today. I especially love:
"A courteous, yet harrowing Grace,
As Guest, that would be gone—"

Thanks for this.

Anonymous said...

Too odd, but we both picked Emily today-- I see your sadness, and raise you "'Hope' is the Thing with Feathers."

Karen Edmisten said...

Hope? I fold. :-)

Beck said...

Oh my goodness! I was so surprised when you commented on my page this morning! I've been reading your site (without commenting) for months!
And that's one of my favorite gloomy poems - great choice!

Karen Edmisten said...

Beck! I *love* your blog! I didn't know you read mine, though. :-)

Now, get well soon, and thanks for coming out of lurkdom.

Ok, who else is hiding out there?

tanita✿davis said...

I love the image of 'a light escape.' How can we be sad about that? Escaping into the beautiful. I hope your weekend is also an escape into that.

A Secular Franciscan said...

You did not make me sad.

I stumbled across your site after typing in "poetry" in the Catholic search engine - and found your Poetry Fridays. Thank you!