My favorite piece of art...

....is not really art at all.

It's this poem:

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

This poem used to hang in my bedroom as a little girl. Growing up, it was always in a thin black plastic frame, hanging on the wall. It got moved around as my room changed over the years, but it never got stashed in a drawer, or thrown away. I never paid it much attention, but felt like it was a completing part of the room, that couldn't be removed.

When I moved out of my parents house and into my first apartment, this poem still hung on my wall. I would always absentmindedly read it to myself whenever I would walk past wherever it was hanging at the time. Never really taking in the words.

When Todd and I moved into our townhouse, I was sorting through my frames and pictures and found this poem...still in it's original, thin, black plastic frame, and knew it needed to be hung back up. My mom happened to be there that day, and I said "hmm...I think I should re-frame this". So I slid it out of the thin, black plastic frame, and suddenly realized I was looking at a page from a magazine.

My mom said "oh, I completely forgot I cut that out of a magazine so many years ago and framed it!"

It was at that point, that I realized I had memorized this poem. I could recite this poem without looking at it. With my eyes closed. From memory.

This poem that never really made sense to me before, now took on new meaning. Even if I'm not making a difference in the world, I can make a difference to one person...one life...and in turn better myself.

With my mom standing there, I realized that she knew exactly what Emily Dickinson was saying in this poem, when she decided to cut it out of that magazine and hang it in my bedroom. These were words she wanted me to live my life by. Don't start with the world. Start with one person -- one life -- and in loving one heart...you will be able to love your own. The way she loved me. The way she loved everyone in her life.

I hung the picture (in a new, nice wood frame) in the guest bathroom of our townhouse. I had almost forgotten it was in there until I went in the guest bathroom this morning to make sure it was clean for Todd's impending guests.

As I caught the reflection of Emily Dickinson's calming words in the mirror, I smiled and thought to myself "that really is my favorite piece of art".