on brave new worlds

EXULTATION is the going
Of an inland soul to sea,—
Past the houses, past the headlands,
Into deep eternity!

Bred as we, among the mountains,
Can the sailor understand
The divine intoxication
Of the first league out from land?

- Emily Dickinson, Part Four: Time and Eternity, 7.

on reaching new heights

WE never know how high we are
Till we are called to rise;
And then, if we are true to plan,
Our statures touch the skies.

The heroism we recite
Would be a daily thing,
Did not ourselves the cubits warp
For fear to be a king.

- Emily Dickinson, Complete Poems, Part One: Life, 97.

on falling out of love

WE outgrow love like other things
And put it in the drawer,
Till it an antique fashion shows
Like costumes grandsires wore.

- Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems, Part Three: Love, XLIX