Friday, June 1, 2012

The Blue Jay

(excerpts from a longer poem)

No brigadier throughout the year
So civic as the jay.
A neighbor and a warrior, too,
With shrill felicity.

The pillow of this daring head
Is pungent evergreens;
His larder--terse and militant--
Unknown, refreshing things.
Stellar & Blue Jay
(usually do not share range)
His character a tonic,
His future a dispute;
Unfair an immortality
That leaves this neighbor out.* 
      ---Emily Dickinson


*Romans 8 promises that all creation will be restored in heaven.  Others argue that animals won't go to heaven because they don't have immortal souls.  Hence the debate.