Rewriting Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers

Adapted from EMILY DICKINSON's poem of the same name

“Hope” is the thing with the feathers

That perches inside of your soul

It sings of the prospects of what is to come

Replacing the dreams hist’ry stole.

And yet it sings not in my being

It flew from its perch long ago

The bird that has kept oh so many hearts warm

Has left mine adrift in the snow.

The original:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - (314)

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.

 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171619 Source: The Poems of Emily Dickinson Edited by R. W. Franklin (Harvard University Press, 1999)

Today's prompt from Napowrimo.net "Find an Emily Dickinson poem – preferably one you’ve never previously read – and take out all the dashes and line breaks. Make it just one big block of prose. Now, rebreak the lines. Add words where you want. Take out some words. Make your own poem out of it!"