Emily Dickinson 101

Hope. Such an optimistic, confident possibility. I seem to go for long stretches sometimes without hearing her chirp at all. Then, when I least expect it, she reminds me that she's there, has been all along. Close your eyes and listen.

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.