On April 25, we posted Emily Dickinson’s # 1066, a two-line poem that can be construed as the opening of a longer poem. We invited readers to complete the poem. Mitch Sisskind and Rachel’s Friend concluded the stanza with exquisite metaphors that Emily would have liked; JL borrows from Robert Frost’s "Provide, Provide"; Hg elaborated the two lines into twelve. You choose.
–DL
Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born ––
– Emily Dickinson
Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born —
Their epitaphs — memorialized —
Cut in water — frozen in stone.
— Mitch Sisskind
Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born ––
Endure a lone Eternity
Of longing for the Tomb.
— Rachel’s Friend
Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born –
Better to go down – dignified –
where nobody can call you crone –
— JL
Fame’s Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born,
Are rare creatures: gold nuggets panned
From a river of dirt.
But who wants immortality?
A gilded brooch to wear
On a preening cocktail dress breast
Twice, thrice a year at most,
A butterfly pinned for show? No,
I’ll float in the water,
Swept downstream with everyone else
To a last resting place.
– Hg