The last post with A.A. Milne’s poem Daffodowndilly has gotten me thinking about poetry again. Since it’s National Poetry Month, I thought I’d post another poem.

This time, on my favorite American poet, Emily Dickinson. She’s a fascinating story: mostly unpublished during her lifetime and something of a hermit, she nevertheless wrote 1800 poems using the verse of hymns, which she broke up with her famous dashes.

Fun fact, her poems generally share the same verse as Amazing Grace, House of the Rising Sun, and the theme to Gilligan’s Island—which means you can sing them interchangeably. (Amazing Grace does lose a little something when sung to the theme of Gilligan’s Island, of course.)

Here’s one of her great poems, and one of the few poems I know by heart.

The Brain—is wider than the Sky—
For—put them side by side—
The one the other will contain
With ease—and You—beside—

The Brain is deeper than the sea—
For—hold them—Blue to Blue—
The one the other will absorb—
As Sponges—Buckets—do—

The Brain is just the weight of God—
For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—
And they will differ—if they do—
As Syllable from Sound—