Coolsisters of the Month

THE PEDIGREE of honey
Does not concern the bee
A clover, any time, to him
Is aristocracy
___________

A WORD is dead
When it is said
Some say,
I say it just
Begins to live
That day

The only reason you know the poetry of Emily Dickinson (and you do know the poetry of Emily Dickinson - the above just being two little gems) is because she had a sister, Lavinia. Emily instructed Lavinia to destroy all of her letters and manuscripts after her death. Lavinia carried out her sister's wish until she came across a cache of more than 1,700 poems hidden in Emily’s home, only a very few of which had been published in Emily's lifetime. While Lavinia may have betrayed her sister, we like to think Emily would have forgiven her. Sometimes a sister knows best.

That's Emily, brother Austin, and Lavinia in the portrait.

Brush up your Dickinson - Happy Valentine's Day

If you were coming in the fall,
I'd brush the summer by
With half a smile and half a spurn,
As housewives do a fly.

If I could see you in a year,
I'd wind the months in balls,
And put them each in separate drawers,
Until their time befalls.

If only centuries delayed,
I'd count them on my hand,
Subtracting till my fingers dropped
Into Van Diemen's hand.

If certain, when this life was out,
That yours and mine should be,
I'd toss it yonder like a rind,
And taste eternity.

But now, all ignorant of the length
Of time's uncertain wing,
It goads me, like the goblin bee,
That will not state its sting.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)