Water, is taught by thirst.
Land—by the Oceans passed.
Transport—by throe—
Peace—by its battles told—
Love, by Memorial Mold—
Birds, by the Snow.
‘Water, is taught by thirst’, by Emily Dickinson, an American poet who died in 1886. I used to love her poems when I was in high school in Australia. She was a bit of a recluse and considered to be quite eccentric, and most of her poems were published after she died. She often used lots of hyphens (—see above!) and capital letters in unusual places. There is an awful lot happening in this poem in terms of the language she used and how she used it, but in essence this poem is suggesting that we often take thing for granted, only realising how much we appreciate them when we don’t have them anymore ??
Recluse (noun): someone who prefers to avoid other people and live by themselves (just like my cat, Studycat, especially when some of my younger students ring the doorbell??)
Eccentric (adjective): someone is eccentric if they behave in a strange or unconventional manner
Photo taken on my Sunday afternoon walk down from Pfannenstiel back home to Meilen.
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