There is no better way to bid adieu to National Poetry Month
in the U.S. than by remembering one of the English language's
greatest poetic mistresses: Emily Elizabeth Dickinson.
What did she not capture? The spare spirit of Haiku, the
punctuation of breath itself, the depth of sorrow, the delight
of nature, the finer points of philosophy and spirituality.
And, naturally, the essential bond between word, flesh, and spirit.
Her Poem 1263, below, was written between 1873 and 1894.
1263
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry --
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without opress of Toll --
How frugal is the Chariot
that bears the Human soul.
From: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Thomas H. Johnson, Ed.
Little Brown, Boston: 1960. Copyright Mary L. Hampson
For more information on American poetry, visit
the Academy of American Poets
Post comment, Copyright 2006. Ysabel de la Rosa.
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