30-Day Journey with Emily Dickinson

By Kristin LeMay

Enrich each day with wisdom from our greatest spiritual thinkers. Through brief daily readings and reflections, the 30-Day Journey series invites readers to be inspired and transformed. By devoting a moment to meaningful reflection and spiritual growth, readers will find deeper understanding of themselves and the world, one day at a time.

Emily Dickinson's unique spirit and gorgeous language have secured her legacy as one of America's most original and most beloved poets. Whether you are a devoted reader or are discovering the beauty of her poetry for the first time, this journey provides the perfect way to engage the thought of this strikingly gifted poet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Broadleaf Books
• Release date: Dec 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781506464206

Book preview

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Day One

As if I asked a common Alms, And in my wondering hand

A Stranger pressed a Kingdom, And I, bewildered, stand –

As if I asked the Orient Had it for me a Morn –

And it should lift its purple Dikes, And shatter Me with Dawn!

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We begin with the gift you awoke to: a new day. Whether you caught the sunrise’s first stripes of color this morning or woke to a grey, low-hanging sky, the fact of this day is wonder enough. In today’s poem, Emily unfolds two successive scenes to illustrate the joy of such an unexpected gift. First, it was as if she were a beggar, asking Alms on the street. Then, a Stranger passed by and dropped a Kingdom into her hand. The second scenario is less melodramatic, but no less sensational: she lies in the dark, looking to the East, wondering if morning will ever come. Then Dawn arrives, with such beauty, it shatters