Home ⇒ 📌Emily Dickinson ⇒ It would have starved a Gnat
It would have starved a Gnat
It would have starved a Gnat
To live so small as I
And yet I was a living Child
With Food’s necessity
Upon me like a Claw
I could no more remove
Than I could coax a Leech away
Or make a Dragon move
Not like the Gnat had I
The privilege to fly
And seek a Dinner for myself
How mightier He than I
Nor like Himself the Art
Upon the Window Pane
To gad my little Being out
And not begin again
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Related poetry:
- As the Starved Maelstrom laps the Navies As the Starved Maelstrom laps the Navies As the Vulture teased Forces the Broods in lonely Valleys As the Tiger eased By but a Crumb of Blood, fasts Scarlet Till he meet a Man Dainty adorned with Veins and Tissues And partakes his Tongue Cooled by the Morsel for a moment Grows a fiercer thing […]...
- The Lyon And The Gnat To the still Covert of a Wood About the prime of Day, A Lyon, satiated with Food, With stately Pace, and sullen Mood, Now took his lazy way. To Rest he there himself compos’d, And in his Mind revolv’d, How Great a Person it enclos’d, How free from Danger he repos’d, Though now in Ease […]...
- A Toad, can die of Light A Toad, can die of Light Death is the Common Right Of Toads and Men Of Earl and Midge The privilege Why swagger, then? The Gnat’s supremacy is large as Thine Life is a different Thing So measure Wine Naked of Flask Naked of Cask Bare Rhine Which Ruby’s mine?...
- I watched the Moon around the House I watched the Moon around the House Until upon a Pane She stopped a Traveller’s privilege for Rest And there upon I gazed as at a stranger The Lady in the Town Doth think no incivility To lift her Glass upon But never Stranger justified The Curiosity Like Mine for not a Foot nor Hand […]...
- Life Is A Privilege Life is a privilege. Its youthful days Shine with the radiance of continuous Mays. To live, to breathe, to wonder and desire, To feed with dreams the heart’s perpetual fire, To thrill with virtuous passions, and to glow With great ambitions – in one hour to know The depths and heights of feeling – God! […]...
- A Radio With Guts it was on the 2nd floor on Coronado Street I used to get drunk And throw the radio through the window While it was playing, and, of course, It would break the glass in the window And the radio would sit there on the roof Still playing And I’d tell my woman, “Ah, what a […]...
- Teddy Bear A bear, however hard he tries, Grows tubby without exercise. Our Teddy Bear is short and fat, Which is not to be wondered at; He gets what exercise he can By falling off the ottoman, But generally seems to lack The energy to clamber back. Now tubbiness is just the thing Which gets a fellow […]...
- The Day undressed Herself The Day undressed Herself Her Garter was of Gold Her Petticoat of Purple plain Her Dimities as old Exactly as the World And yet the newest Star Enrolled upon the Hemisphere Be wrinkled much as Her Too near to God to pray Too near to Heaven to fear The Lady of the Occident Retired without […]...
- Wind and Window Flower LOVERS, forget your love, And list to the love of these, She a window flower, And he a winter breeze. When the frosty window veil Was melted down at noon, And the cagèd yellow bird Hung over her in tune, He marked her through the pane, He could not help but mark, And only passed […]...
- John Horace Burleson I won the prize essay at school Here in the village, And published a novel before I was twenty-five. I went to the city for themes and to enrich my art; There married the banker’s daughter, And later became president of the bank- Always looking forward to some leisure To write an epic novel of […]...
- The Sun kept stooping stooping low! The Sun kept stooping stooping low! The Hills to meet him rose! On his side, what Transaction! On their side, what Repose! Deeper and deeper grew the stain Upon the window pane Thicker and thicker stood the feet Until the Tyrian Was crowded dense with Armies So gay, so Brigadier That I felt martial stirrings […]...
- I know lives, I could miss I know lives, I could miss Without a Misery Others whose instant’s wanting Would be Eternity The last a scanty Number ‘Twould scarcely fill a Two The first a Gnat’s Horizon Could easily outgrow...
- The New Love If it shine or if it rain, Little will I care or know. Days, like drops upon a pane, Slip, and join, and go. At my door’s another lad; Here’s his flower in my hair. If he see me pale and sad, Will he see me fair? I sit looking at the floor. Little will […]...
- Who Giants know, with lesser Men Who Giants know, with lesser Men Are incomplete, and shy For Greatness, that is ill at ease In minor Company A Smaller, could not be perturbed The Summer Gnat displays Unconscious that his single Fleet Do not comprise the skies...
- Before I got my eye put out Before I got my eye put out I liked as well to see As other Creatures, that have Eyes And know no other way But were it told to me Today That I might have the sky For mine I tell you that my Heart Would split, for size of me The Meadows mine The […]...
- How many times these low feet staggered How many times these low feet staggered Only the soldered mouth can tell Try can you stir the awful rivet Try can you lift the hasps of steel! Stroke the cool forehead hot so often Lift if you care the listless hair Handle the adamantine fingers Never a thimble more shall wear Buzz the dull […]...
- Name of a Tree Some days I am Ana’s teacher, some days she is mine. This morning, we look through her kitchen window, The one she can’t get clean, cobwebs massed Between sash and pane. The sky is blue-gold, almost The color of home. Ana, I say, each winter I get more lonely. Both of us would like the […]...
- Size circumscribes it has no room Size circumscribes it has no room For petty furniture The Giant tolerates no Gnat For Ease of Gianture Repudiates it, all the more Because intrinsic size Ignores the possibility Of Calumnies or Flies....
- A Night-Rain in Summer Open the window, and let the air Freshly blow upon face and hair, And fill the room, as it fills the night, With the breath of the rain’s sweet might. Hark! the burthen, swift and prone! And how the odorous limes are blown! Stormy Love’s abroad, and keeps Hopeful coil for gentle sleeps. Not a […]...
- The Spirit Of The Unborn Babe The Spirit of the Unborn Babe peered through the window-pane, Peered through the window-pane that glowed like beacon in the night; For, oh, the sky was desolate and wild with wind and rain; And how the little room was crammed with coziness and light! Except the flirting of the fire there was no sound at […]...
- The World's All Right Be honest, kindly, simple, true; Seek good in all, scorn but pretence; Whatever sorrow come to you, Believe in Life’s Beneficence! The World’s all right; serene I sit, And cease to puzzle over it. There’s much that’s mighty strange, no doubt; But Nature knows what she’s about; And in a million years or so We’ll […]...
- Wonder is not precisely Knowing Wonder is not precisely Knowing And not precisely Knowing not A beautiful but bleak condition He has not lived who has not felt Suspense is his maturer Sister Whether Adult Delight is Pain Or of itself a new misgiving This is the Gnat that mangles men...
- Had this one Day not been Had this one Day not been. Or could it cease to be How smitten, how superfluous, Were every other Day! Lest Love should value less What Loss would value more Had it the stricken privilege, It cherishes before....
- I envy Seas, whereon He rides I envy Seas, whereon He rides I envy Spokes of Wheels Of Chariots, that Him convey I envy Crooked Hills That gaze upon His journey How easy All can see What is forbidden utterly As Heaven unto me! I envy Nests of Sparrows That dot His distant Eaves The wealthy Fly, upon His Pane The […]...
- The Wicked Postman Why do you sit there on the floor so quiet and silent, tell me, Mother dear? The rain is coming in through the open window, making you all Wet, and you don’t mind it. Do you hear the gong striking four? It is time for my brother To come home from school. What has happened […]...
- The Heart asks Pleasure first The Heart asks Pleasure first And then Excuse from Pain And then those little Anodyness That deaden suffering And then to go to sleep And then if it should be The will of its Inquisitor The privilege to die...
- Through what transports of Patience Through what transports of Patience I reached the stolid Bliss To breathe my Blank without thee Attest me this and this By that bleak exultation I won as near as this Thy privilege of dying Abbreviate me this...
- Unlyric Love Song It is time to give that-of-myself which I could not at first: To offer you now at last my least and my worst: Minor, absurd preserves, The shell’s end-curves, A document kept at the back of a drawer, A tin hidden under the floor, Recalcitrant prides and hesitations: To pile them carefully in a desparate […]...
- Two were immortal twice Two were immortal twice The privilege of few Eternity obtained in Time Reversed Divinity That our ignoble Eyes The quality conceive Of Paradise superlative Through their Comparative....
- To Whom Words Are Mightier 1/ To whom words are mightier than swords Be warned, for woes may thee betide After our pride, land, offsprings and lives What more of us can be deprived? Virtuousness and compliance Are being ridiculed by this persecution Avarice rules the world, conscience Eclipsed by Darwinian aggression Peace is a piece of cake offered at […]...
- How many Flowers fail in Wood How many Flowers fail in Wood Or perish from the Hill Without the privilege to know That they are Beautiful How many cast a nameless Pod Upon the nearest Breeze Unconscious of the Scarlet Freight It bear to Other Eyes...
- Wraiths They know not the green leaves; In whose earth-haunting dream Dimly the forest heaves, And voiceless goes the stream. Strangely they seek a place In love’s night-memoried hall; Peering from face to face, Until some heart shall call And keep them, for a breath, Half-mortal… (Hark to the rain!)… They are dead… (O hear how […]...
- The Fingers of the Light The Fingers of the Light Tapped soft upon the Town With “I am great and cannot wait So therefore let me in.” “You’re soon,” the Town replied, “My Faces are asleep But swear, and I will let you by, You will not wake them up.” The easy Guest complied But once within the Town The […]...
- Ended, ere it begun Ended, ere it begun The Title was scarcely told When the Preface perished from Consciousness The Story, unrevealed Had it been mine, to print! Had it been yours, to read! That it was not Our privilege The interdict of God...
- 'Tis not the swaying frame we miss ‘Tis not the swaying frame we miss, It is the steadfast Heart, That had it beat a thousand years, With Love alone had bent, Its fervor the electric Oar, That bore it through the Tomb, Ourselves, denied the privilege, Consolelessly presume...
- The Rain Was Ending, And Light The rain was ending, and light Lifting the leaden skies. It shone upon ceiling and floor And dazzled a child’s eyes. Pale after fever, a captive Apart from his schoolfellows, He stood at the high room’s window With face to the pane pressed close, And beheld an immense glory Flooding with fire the drops Spilled […]...
- THE TABLE IN A RESTAURANT Bhaskar Roy Barman The moment I close my eyes In meditation on the unfathomable I visualize golden fleeces of cloud Perambulating the skies And old faces peering down through the fleeces, Their faces writhed into a semblance of smile. With them I used to sit at a table in a restaurant By the window overlooking […]...
- Anna Who Was Mad Anna who was mad, I have a knife in my armpit. When I stand on tiptoe I tap out messages. Am I some sort of infection? Did I make you go insane? Did I make the sounds go sour? Did I tell you to climb out the window? Forgive. Forgive. Say not I did. Say […]...
- This Window is This window is confidence, Documenting proceedings, Capturing moments, Cleansing views Challenging sentiment. This window is nourishment Filling the eyes With strong drink, And acidly piercing Over-elaborate structures. This window is furniture Re-hung like a picture, Recording new outlooks When the old pleases No more. This window is doorway To feelings, Good feelings and bad, All […]...
- We see Comparatively We see Comparatively The Thing so towering high We could not grasp its segment Unaided Yesterday This Morning’s finer Verdict Makes scarcely worth the toil A furrow Our Cordillera Our Apennine a Knoll Perhaps ’tis kindly done us The Anguish and the loss The wrenching for His Firmament The Thing belonged to us To spare […]...
Variety »