If I Can Stop
Emily Dickinson
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
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| Image Source: Wikipedia |
My Thoughts
What I appreciate most about poetry is its ability to say
the most with the fewest of words. This deceptively simple poem conveys, to me,
the essence of a meaningful life. While authors and spiritual gurus across the
world use the power of their prose across reams of paper to tell us how to live
compassionately, Emily Dickinson takes a handful of words and even fewer lines
to share what could make our lives worthy. Her thoughts on spending our days
easing the burden of those who need our support defines the very purpose of
being alive. Of being human. Of being connected by our humanity toward each
other and every living being.
Most of Emily Dickinson’s poems I have read are short and
her optimal use of words is unmatched. The brevity of her poem belies the depth
of its message. Each word carries immense weight and is indispensable in its
contribution to communicating her thoughts.
What makes this poem rise in remembrance over the many books
I may have read on kindness, compassion, and a purpose-driven life is its
distillation of the meaning of life shared in the realisation that only a life which reaches out to others is truly a life lived well. There is a primary purpose that
gives meaning to our human birth and which we should strive to fulfil with each
breath we take: to be there for each other.
To be kind is to know life.
About Emily Dickinson and her poems
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| Emily Dickinson (Image Source: Wikipedia) |
Born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, Emily Elizabeth
Dickinson lived a largely solitary life. Even though she was a prolific
poet, only a few of her poems were published in her lifetime. Her poems gain
their unique stature from their distinct features such as short lines, lack of
titles, and unconventional capitalization and punctuation. Many of her poems
deal with themes of death and immortality. Today she is universally considered
to be one of the most significant of all American poets.