On my search for a poem for the poetry panel project I came across a poem by Emily Dickinson that I absolutely loved, yet we ultimately chose not to go for in the project:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers

BY EMILY DICKINSON

“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.

   I loved the imagery of a bird in our hearts keeping us filled with hope, but what intrigued me was this line: "sings the tune without the words - and never stops - at all-".

    If you notice it never said that we stopped hearing the bird's song, but only that the bird never stops singing, and for that, I really loved this line. Hope is always in us, yet sometimes it's clouded by our own fears and worries- we are what hides our own hope, yet the only way to realize this is by understanding that we are in charge of our own outlook on life. As the poem states, "...never... it asked a crumb." If it's free and to no harm to us, why do we sometimes loose sight of it? I think this notion goes for many things in our lives. We always forget to be thankful of the obvious things in life because we are lucky enough to always have it at our fingertips, so never do we understand the true value of things until we no longer have them.

   "I've heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea"- the bird fights to be heard through thick and thin, yet we don't see it's struggles. We are self-centered and oblivious enough to not hear its beautiful melodies, however hard it may try. Maybe this has a say to how people are reluctant creatures who struggle to ask for help, or maybe it doesn't, but I just hope that you never lose sight of that bird in your own soul, and never cease to hear its beautiful song:)

Here's my rendition of this poem:

Ambition

"Ambition" is the thing with life - 

That perches in the mind -

And reminds us of our dreams -

And never stops - at all-

And keeps us going for we know not where we go -

And can be hard to feel sometimes - 

To remember our little selves making promises

To revive a song not heard -

I remember my little voice

And I see my future carved

Yet - never- in Extremity,

It asked a thing - of me.

Till next time,

Melodi Yilmaz💕