My corner

I'd like to share this cryptic inspirational poem sent to me by a friend last night. I was having hard time to connect and interpret things knowing I was only provided by the first two lines. As expected, I asked the assistance of my google search engine to unveil its profoundness. This must be something beyond my mental capacity I guess.

The following interpretation was also lifted from the perspective of silver_bell, as identified in the net. And, if you're literally inclined however, i encourage you to post your individual comments to elicit mysteries embedded in the poem.

I failed mine, it's your turn. =)

A Wounded Deer - Leaps Highest
by Emily Dickson

A wounded deer leaps highest,
I've heard the hunter tell;
'Tis but the ecstasy of death,
And then the brake is still.

The smitten rock that gushes,
The trampled steel that springs:
A cheek is always redder
Just where the hectic stings!

Mirth is mail of anguish,
In which its cautious arm
Lest anybody spy the blood
And, "you're hurt" exclaim

**********************

The poem says that 'happiness' is followed soon my misery...

In 'To A Skylark', P B Shelley says

"We look before and after
And pine for what is nought
our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought"

That is the theme dealt in the poem. The poet gives us many examples to prove that a smile is followed soon by tears. Mirth is followed soon by sadness. Triumph is followed soon by failure.

In the first stanza she says that wounded deers leap high than an ordinary deer. It is not in ecstasy or happiness that it jumps high, but to fall and die soon after.
(it is a broken rock that gushes with the stream, if it is hard and heavy, it will lie still)Only a weak and trampled steel would act like a spring. Hard and heavy won't bent.

Just like that, a cheek becomes red only when it is affected by emotions, mainly sorrow. It is not beauty that makes it so.

He says in third stanza that,
Mirth is but an indication of forth coming despairs and disappointments.
If some body see your blood, it means that you are hurt!
(the word 'lest' is here used in the sense 'In case')