Celebrate National Poetry Month

Share a POEM
with the Young People in Your Life!

In honor of National Poetry Month and this glorious season of spring, we share with you one of nineteenth century, American poet Emily Dickinson's poems. Why not take a moment and share it with the young people in your life? Take turns reciting each stanza. Print copies of the poem and put them in your pocket. Ask young people to write their own poems inspired by nature or something else they cherish!

 

I have a Bird in spring  

by Emily Dickinson

 

I have a Bird in spring
Which for myself doth sing --
The spring decoys.
And as the summer nears --
And as the rose appears,
Robin is gone

Yet I do not repine
Knowing that Bird of mine
Though flown --
Learneth beyond the sea
Melody new for me
And will return.

Faster in a safer hand
Held in a truer Land
Are mine -
And though they now depart,
Tell I my doubting heart
They're thine.

In a serener Bright
In a more golden light
I see
Each little doubt and fear,
Each little discord here
Removed.

The will I not repine,
Knowing that Bird of mine
Though flown
Shall in a distant tree
Bright melody for me
Return. 

 

MORE Fun with Poetry!

To learn more about poet Emily Dickinson, visit the Emily Dickinson Museum website. Here you will find poetry activities, a Dickinson poem of the week, teacher resources, and information for visiting the Dickinson Museum and properties in Amherst, Massachusetts.

 

To discover more ways you can celebrate National Poetry Month, visit Poets.org.

To find more poems by Dickinson and other poets, visit your local library or bookstore!

To see a list of recommended poetry books for kids ages 0-9, visit ReadingRockets.org.

To see a list of recommended poetry books for older kids, visit AdLit.org.