Providential

 

The Daisy follows soft the Sun-

And when his golden walk is done-

Sits shyly at his feet -

He-waking-finds the flower there-

Wherefore - Marauder - art thou here?

Because, Sir, love is sweet!

We are the Flower - Thou the Sun!

Forgive us, if as days decline-

We nearer steal to Thee!

Enamored of the parting West-

The peace - the flight - the Amethyst

Nights possibilities

           Emily Dickinson #106

Description,

I have been doing this project of creating art from Emily Dickinson poetry for over five years,  I do not get paid, and I do not count how many I’ve done.  More posts can be seen at Emilydickinsonillustrator.com and daisypoems.blogspot.com.  I do it for pure enjoyment, not to check a poem off my list.  I take my time with these poems and the reward is sweet.

Each poem has their own providential surprise.   For poem #106 I had just started a new job, I was out in my shed all day as a call center agent.  The first two months of my job I held in my palm an amethyst crystal, this seemed to bring me luck on every call. The violet color and the smooth and rough surfaces are mesmerizing, it’s as though all my worries and fears disappear when in my grip is a magical crystal.

Now that I was finally making some money I treated myself to a book on Emily Dickinson.  Books on Emily Dickinson are as exciting to me as a new video game is for a child or some adults. 

 

One day I am out in the shed carrying my magical crystal around wondering if Emily Dickinson has ever written any poems with “amethyst” in them.  I checked the subject index in the Thomas Johnson edition, and to my dismay, not a thing was listed under “amethyst” or “crystal.” “Oh well”, I tell myself, and pick up my new book,Emily Dickinson as a Second Language. The author’s name, Greg Mattingly,  is strangely familiar. I check my facebook and realize he is a friend of mine, Hah.  But the real providential moment comes when I discover five pages into the first chapter, Greg mentions all of the Emily Dickinson poems that contain the word, AMETHYST.  I shed a tear and thanked my virtual friend.

Another virtual friend of mine, Despina Crist,  who wrote, Emily Dickinson; Goddess of the Volcano, informed me long ago that when Emily Dickinson says, “Daisy”, it means, “Sunflower”.  If you follow me on facebook or instagram you would know that right outside my shed, I grew an American Mammoth Sunflower.  It is the most amazing thing to watch these flowers grow.  This poem so beautifully captures the amazing way these flowers follow the sun throughout the day and night.  I could not believe it when I came out one morning and the sunflower, “Sunny”, was craning its neck because it and the tree were fighting for that morning view of the sun.