A Word Is Dead... Poem by Jim Yerman

When you think about the following quote...what Emily Dickinson said,
It's ironic most of her poetry was published after she was dead

‘A word is dead when it is said, some say.
I say it just begins to live that day.'

Emily was correct; words we've written on paper that have never been seen or read
Are like words we've formed within our minds that we've never spoken; never said.

Words on paper mean nothing; no one will ever heed them
If the paper is not disseminated, if there's no one there to read them.

Words in our minds remain useless, no one can ever get near them
If they spend their life in silence, if there's no one there to hear them.

There is poetry in all our words, there's no limit to what they can be
But unless we breathe life into them they've no hope for immortality.

So with my apologies to Emily, hopefully she won't be too adverse
I've taken her classic poem and added a second verse.

‘A word is dead when it is said, some say.
I say it just begins to live that day.'

And once alive these words will fly wherever the wind doth blow
For once we have released them...there's no telling where they might go.