Poetry

                                  A Doubt if it be Us

                                          Emily Dickinson

A doubt if it be Us
Assists the staggering Mind
In an extremer Anguish
Until it footing find.

An Unreality is lent,
A merciful Mirage
That makes the living possible
While it suspends the lives.

      ...This poem shows someone doubting what they've been told. Unable to believe that there might be something wrong with them they begin to slip in an unreality of disbelief or denial that puts their mind at ease. That way they don't have to deal with the consequences of whatever "us" is but at the same time they're getting nowhere by not trying to fix what is wrong. The line "while it suspends the lives is highlighted because it goes with the picture I chose. The man is meant to represent the person in the poem as someone living in their own world, suspended above everyone else's, getting nowhere. A good example could be found in Walk Well my Brother. Konala was constantly showing Lavery that she was more than capable of surviving in the wilderness. Every time he saw this though, he refused to believe that her way was the right way wanting to reinforce his beliefs and superiority. Of course had they gone on this way Lavery would have been proud that he didn't have to rely on a "husky" woman but he also would have gotten nowhere on their journey. "When Lavery descended from the plane with the compass in his hand his appetite woke with a rush at the sight and smell of roasting fish. But he did not go near the fire. Instead he retreated to the rocks where he had left his gear and dug out a can of beans. He gashed his thumb trying to open the can with his pocket knife." (Mowat, 174) He probably would have died...