“What’s In a Flower?”

by Tom Noe

after Emily Dickinson

Oh, “dismal” is a lovely word;
It should have named a flower:

“I spied some dismals in the swamp,
A-growing by the tower!”

A dismal petal brings good luck,
So keep a dismal near you,

And when you lose your way in life
A dismal thought will cheer you.

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Tom Noe is an editor, author and playwright in South Bend, Indiana. He’s semiretired, but he assists with high-school drama productions and that keeps him feeling young. For relaxation, he enjoys reading, gardening and collecting dinosaur bones and agates in the wilds of Wyoming.

header image: Photo by Jon Balsbaugh at KairosPhotos.net