If I can stop one heart from breaking I shall not live in vain,
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
-Emily Dickinson
A Response to Ms. Dickinson
Yet what results
If in this I fail
And death descends with murky veil
Before I can complete one task?
Then Father, Savior, Friend I ask,
Have I lived in vain?
Or is there something deeper still,
The inner quaking of
Desire waking,
The rousing of a slumb'ring heart,
A warm intention but frozen start,
That deems life not in vain?
But if in me all hope has died
And bitterness all tears has dried,
All beauty marred
And joy obscured,
Tomorrows only days endured,
Is this then life in vain?
Then to doubt, a soft reply:
"Createdness is the loving gift
That guarantees life lived in thrift
Is not life lived in vanity.
For though good deeds are life's rich fruit
And evidence of love pursued,
This is not where life's worth is found.
I Am the source, value's ground.
Fear not, then, and lift your eyes.
You cannot live in vain."
