Wednesday the doctors got the MRI report back on my brother’s stroke and said there was no hope…he’d never recover and as soon as he was strong enough he’d be moved to a nursing home. Yesterday God gave us a small miracle. My brother is on many prayer lists and those prayers have been answered. He began to respond and now the doctors have changed their opinion. As soon as he is stronger he will be sent to a rehab center. A small step–but a step towards hope when at first there was none. In celebration here is another Emily Dickinson favorite of mine and appropriate for how I feel at the moment.

God gave a loaf to every bird,
But just a crumb to me;
I dare not eat it, though I starve,–
My poignant luxury
To own it, touch it, prove the feat
That made the pellet mine,–
Too happy in my sparrow chance
For ampler coveting.

It might be famine all around,
I could not miss an ear,
Such plenty smiles upon my board,
My garner shows so fair.
I wonder how the rich may feel,–
An Indiaman–an Earl?
I deem that I with but a crumb
Am sovereign of them all.

Elizabeth