My first poet was a subdued dramatic

Speaking in succinct lines

Of delicate 2/4 rhymes.

In which success is counted sweetest,

When the inland soul goes out to sea.

Where beauty crowds me till I die,

So Death kindly stopped for me.

She led me into her own domain

Showed me a perspective I could know.

Away from third grade simile

Devoid of personal longing-

To measured points and subtle rhetoric, 

Instilling, more importantly,

A desire to propose my own.

Emily, you know me,

Emily, you saw my soul

Only two hundred years ago.

Lauded today,

Discounted in her time-

I dare to hope that’s what I can be.