ILLegitiMATE

ILLegitiMATE (651)
Emily Dickinson -- a Cento
(Word Count: 632)

The sacred stealth of Boy and Girl (1553)
One and One -- are One (769)

Though I within suppose (1555)
I shall not count the journey one (1664)
That never felt the Sun (1660)
The largest Fire ever known (1114)

I tried to think of a lonelier Thing (532)
Which having sown with care (116)
Would pierce me with a fashion (348)
When Certain it must die (468)

We chiefly wonder then (1024)
How short we have to fear (1399)
The grass does not appear afraid (1400)
Would pay each Atom that I am (1231)
I should not dare to be so sad (1197)

A little note -- when you awake (487)
No Message, but a Sigh (804)
I held a Jewel in my fingers (245)
Upon me -- like a Claw (612)
My Hand, with trembling care (609)
When swift it slipped its limit (567)
Have not each one of us the right (1596)
To this revolting bliss (1749)

Somehow myself survived the Night (1194)
For when the Frosts begin (1025)
I knew that I had gained (1022)
But just a single smile (223)
Till mine too heavy grew (217)

Tonight she lies (1702)
And untouched by Noon (216)
You left me Boundaries of Pain (644)
Had all my Life but been Mistake (646)
The Sailor doubting turns (851)

When a Lover is a Beggar (1314)
Which is the best -- the Moon or the Crescent? (1315)
Not a hesitation (1317)
Generic as a Quarry (1316)
And with ironic caw (1659)
To hear the living Clock (1703)
And dream the Days away (333)

A short relief to have the wind (1703)
He shall seek in vain (746)
Sank this Beggar from the Sky (760)
He lived where Dreams were born (371)
Staring -- bewildered -- at the mocking sky (319)
The former love -- distincter grows (610)

With narrow probing, Eyes (561)
Then Loneliness looks so (590)
Dips -- evades -- teases -- deploys (319)
The Gem was gone (245)

A Prison gets to be a friend (652)
The Heart has many Doors (1567)
But History and I (1583)
Today in Memory lain (1209)
Here is laid away (1217)
The Infinite a sudden Guest (1309)
Such are the inlets of the mind (1421)

How mighty to the insecure (1499)
When we have ceased to care (1706)
Her pretty speech -- like drunken men (208)
How fitter they will be for Want (801)
So preconcerted with itself (290)

There is Another -- (977)
Remembered (1028)
It fitted them, came in (1039)
Another Hour to me (1111)
This limitless Hyperbole (1482)
Satisfaction is the agent (1036)

These Strangers, in a foreign World (1096)
With but a single Star (589)
His figure intimate (1128)
Her breast is fit for pearls (84)
It might be Famine all around (791)
Since a Rack couldn't coax a syllable now (793)

While I delay to guess (1187)
It made us all ashamed (1272)
The desolation only missed (1495)
Until they look around (1497)
So long -- so short (1556)

Those looked that lived that Day (1593)
That for an instant (1660)
The lowliest career (1626)

A face devoid of love or grace (1711)
He is just as high (1538)
The Music in the Violin (1576)
Was nearer than the Sky (1581)

He went by sleep that drowsy route (1662)
Sweet is the swamp with its secrets (1740)
The morns are meeker than they were (12)
You and I the secret (22)

Should reach so small a goal (146)
My story as a moral (23)
This faith that watched for star in vain (145)
With Hammer, and with Blaze (365)

More Life went out when he went (422)
To put a Current back (556)
Best Things dwell out of Sight (998)
To Squirrels, and to Me (1073)

LAURA BLASKEY