April 10Toil of Love
I had no time to hate, because / The grave would hinder me, / And life was not so ample I / Could finish enmity. / Nor had I time to love; but since / Some industry must be, / The little toil of love, I thought, / Was large enough for me.
Emily Dickinson—“Life,” The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (1855)
Great poetry is a most difficult form of writing. Imagine—in four lines or so, Dickinson covers love, hate, death, afterlife, and personal choice with no fat or fluff.
Life is short, and since you can't take love or hate (or enmity, mutual hatred) to the grave, you might as well choose the little toil of love since you must do something.
Now some might suggest that Dickinson is merely expressing a lack of passion in her own life, but here's the deal: love is just a choice and you get to define what it looks like to you.
Challenge Question
- How does fear creep into your definition of love?
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