101 Poems, Number 63

Favorite Poems Throughout My Life

63: “A Route of Evanescence,” 1879, by Emily Dickinson (1830–86)

Now this one has, at least for me,

A special relevance.

My mother loved it and in class

She used the first line once

To be the title of her book

On teaching poetry.

She used it in her classes first—

To try it and to see.

That book was never published, and

I’m not so sure just why.

Perhaps no publisher would bite?

Perhaps she didn’t try?

But when I say these lines today—

I say them frequently—

I think of Mom—feel gratitude

For all her poetry. 

Link to poem.