By Heidi Trautmann

It is one year ago that I started a series of poetry in Cyprus Observer following the article ‘One summer evening’; summer, the time when schools close, the art scene is inactive, the minds are set on keeping cool, either near the sea or in the shade of a tree; many go abroad to cooler countries and do something for culture. For those who stay on the island, the evenings are most welcome with a cool breeze from either the sea or the mountains; it is the time for reading a good book, one that one never had the time to.  Or time to enjoy the company of friends and a good talk, outside somewhere, in your garden or by the seaside and you watch the red sun go down.

I love poetry and thoughts come with the beauty of the evening that form into words my feelings or I take a poetry book, as I did the other evening. One of my young Cypriot friends, a poetess, Senem Gökel, loves Emily Dickinson, and somehow she resembles her, although more than 100 years lie between them, and so I thought, I would read some of Emily Dickinson’s poetry to understand  the woman of today. Here is one summer poem by her.

A something in a summer’s Day
As slow her flambeaux burn away
Which solemnizes me.
A something in a summer’s noon -
A depth - an Azure - a perfume -
Transcending ecstasy.
And still within a summer’s night
A something so transporting bright
I clap my hands to see -
Then veil my too inspecting face
Lets such a subtle - shimmering grace
Flutter too far for me -
The wizard fingers never rest -
The purple brook within the breast
Still chafes it narrow bed -
Still rears the East her amber Flag -
Guides still the sun along the Crag
His Caravan of Red -
So looking on - the night - the morn
Conclude the wonder gay -
And I meet, coming thro’ the dews
Another summer’s Day!

The information about her I took from the Emily Dickinson Museum website. It is interesting to read.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, she lived a reclusive life. She was an academically educated young woman but thought rather eccentric by the locals, she became known for her penchant for white clothing. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence.

Dickinson's poems are unique for the era in which she wrote; many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends.

It was not until after her death in 1886—when Lavinia, Emily's younger sister, discovered her cache of poems—that the breadth of Dickinson's work became apparent. Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890. A complete and mostly unaltered collection of her poetry became available for the first time in 1955 when The Poems of Emily Dickinson was published by scholar Thomas H. Johnson. Despite some unfavorable reviews and some skepticism during the late 19th and early 20th century, she is now almost universally considered to be one of the most important American poets.