I felt a funeral in my brain

Monday was my mom's birthday and happens to also be Libby's half birthday.  So it is always a fun day.  Libby and I ran into a poem by Emily Dickinson during her language lesson and looked her up only to discover it was her birthday as well on December 10th.  I have a book of a collection of poems by her and Libby and I enjoyed reading a little bit of it and talking about her unconventional use of capital letters and punctuation.  (We also expanded her vocabulary with words like recluse and introverted!)

I remembered that I did a drawing based on a poem by her I enjoyed reading over 10 years ago.  I found the drawing and read the poem with Libby.  She and I talked a bit about what it might mean.  I was reminded that I used have the time and brain energy to analyze things and sit in silence thinking about stuff.  And make drawings about vague poems.

I asked Libby to write a poem of her own.  It was beautiful.  So here they both are.  Emily Elizabeth Dickinson's first and Elizabeth June Alley's second.  Enjoy.

I felt a funeral in my brain,
  And mourners, to and fro,
Kept treading, treading, till it seemed
  That sense was breaking through.

And when they all were seated,
  A service like a drum
Kept beating, beating, till I thought
  My mind was going numb

And then I heard them lift a box,
  And creak across my soul
With those same boots of lead, again.
  Then space began to toll

As all the heavens were a bell,
  And Being but an ear,
And I and silence some strange race,
  Wrecked, solitary, here.

Love

I Love some cake, I Love some cheese,

I Love a baby boy with ease.

I Love the sun, I Love the air,

I Love an apple and a pear.

I Love Na-Na and Pop-Pop;

My Love will never, ever stop!