If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking
I wish I learnt this poem by Emily Dickinson as a prayer when I grew up.
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
I love reading Emily Dickinson.
I love her poems because they are brief and straightforward yet carry profound and powerful messages about the human condition. She wrote poems on the human capacity for empathy and the value of small yet compassionate acts.
While I was reading this poem, surprisingly, another poem, also a prayer, came to my mind. I went to a Christian missionary school as a child. Like the students of Christian missionary schools worldwide, I grew up chanting the morning prayer every day at the beginning of school hours. And that prayer was
Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
While comparing these two verses is not fair and justifiable, think if we as kids were taught this poem by Dickinson as our prayer instead of the one we learnt in school. How different we would have grown up as persons, and with vastly different values, had we learnt this poem as our prayer in school as kids.
But before I proceed further, let me clarify one thing before anyone misunderstands me. I have nothing against this prayer in particular. This prayer is as good as any other religious prayer. Like most prayers, whatever the religion, this prayer eulogises an absent, all-powerful God whose existence is doubtful, who has the power to grant us boons. And the boons we ask from Him is salvation from our acts, seemingly sins, that we commit as we lead our lives.
In contrast, this Emily Dickinson poem proclaims love and compassion for all, fellow humans and other living beings. It does not ask anything from anyone but hopes to consider compassionate actions within one's capacity. Seemingly small and insignificant actions by us can make this world a better place to live. Life for her revolves not around our safety and redemption from temptation but around elevating fellow travellers in life from misery. She acknowledges that there will be hardships and suffering in life. And when things get difficult in life, only a compassionate helping hand can elevate us from our depth of miseries. She does not trust a remote God to help the sufferer. But our empathy for the sufferer and small acts of love and compassion towards him.
She longs to be someone who reaches out with her helping hand whenever one is suffering. Her fulfilment is in helping others with simple, selfless kindness.
I wish I learnt this poem as a prayer when I grew up. Our world needs compassion, love, and empathy more than God.
Would you agree?