Favorite Poems?

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Replies

  • mister_universe
    mister_universe Posts: 6,664 Member
    I'm partial to Poe myself. But sometimes I write a little, once or twice a year.



    A spring green blade of grass
    brushing gently, briefly, on sculpted knee

    A mosquito, buzzing insistently
    perilously near inner ear

    Single ray of burning sun
    warming down on smooth bare back

    Lone fiber of cotton lace
    langorously tracking hippish trace

    Chocolate morsel, dark, sweet
    hiding in lips corners

    Waiting, wondering, longing toward
    nearnesses like these

    - Me.
  • mister_universe
    mister_universe Posts: 6,664 Member
    The rise, the fall, the breast so fair
    draped in long, dark silken hair
    Femininity wrapped before my eyes
    yet beneath lies bonding prize

    Lust, hot passions in me arise
    some men these feelings do despise
    These embrace I, on thy behalf
    nobler lies not in our path

    Clarity, love, each unyielding
    tears fervently at silken shielding
    Treasures, tastes, much adoration
    these bring forth our mighty nation

    Searching, yearning, yes, reaffirming
    each unspoken and yet binding;
    Laughter, softness, unburdening joy
    all this means that I'm a boy :)

    Worry not for lust unbridled
    these, despised, are for those unsettled
    Fruits of such twixt us, be blessed
    indeed each yields us happiness

    Celebrate, no wait! Give more!
    show this, thy love whom you adore
    Hold not back; give free, give much
    to him who yearns thy healing touch

    Yearn, strive, ask of me more
    bind me to thee, I implore
    Of us, make but one, we two
    take all of me, as much of you

    Yet at last, though lingering, spent
    amongst thine shielding, torn and rent
    Swells anew within our breast
    emotion, trust, of nobles blest

    Clarity, mere love, gives way
    whilst lust retreats to yonder day
    Left here, with us, amongst the threads
    lies purpose of anointed beds

    Birthed of divinity, birthed of body
    lies there naught to perceive as naughty
    Found is charity 'tween me and thee
    in such a place man hopes it be

    Renewing of simple man, this way
    builds them for less fortunate day
    As treasures, passions, each doth fail
    whilst remains love's holiest grail

    - Also Me.
  • Cali_Chica
    Cali_Chica Posts: 895 Member
    I love Rainer Maria Rilke, especially "You who never arrived."

    You who never arrived
    in my arms, Beloved, who were lost
    from the start,
    I don't even know what songs
    would please you. I have given up trying
    to recognize you in the surging wave of
    the next moment. All the immense
    images in me -- the far-off, deeply-felt
    landscape, cities, towers, and bridges, and
    unsuspected turns in the path,
    and those powerful lands that were once
    pulsing with the life of the gods --
    all rise within me to mean
    you, who forever elude me.

    You, Beloved, who are all
    the gardens I have ever gazed at,
    longing. An open window
    in a country house -- and you almost
    stepped out, pensive, to meet me.
    Streets that I chanced upon --
    you had just walked down them and vanished.
    And sometimes, in a shop, the mirrors
    were still dizzy with your presence and,
    startled, gave back my too-sudden image.
    Who knows? Perhaps the same
    bird echoed through both of us
    yesterday, separate, in the evening...

    i have never read this poem and it is so moving. I think it is written to describe his feelings toward his romantic love but when I initially read it I thought it also would describe the feelings and thoughts a mother might experience having miscarried a child. Tear jerking.....thanks for sharing.
  • Cali_Chica
    Cali_Chica Posts: 895 Member
    The rise, the fall, the breast so fair
    draped in long, dark silken hair
    Femininity wrapped before my eyes
    yet beneath lies bonding prize

    Lust, hot passions in me arise
    some men these feelings do despise
    These embrace I, on thy behalf
    nobler lies not in our path

    Clarity, love, each unyielding
    tears fervently at silken shielding
    Treasures, tastes, much adoration
    these bring forth our mighty nation

    Searching, yearning, yes, reaffirming
    each unspoken and yet binding;
    Laughter, softness, unburdening joy
    all this means that I'm a boy :)

    Worry not for lust unbridled
    these, despised, are for those unsettled
    Fruits of such twixt us, be blessed
    indeed each yields us happiness

    Celebrate, no wait! Give more!
    show this, thy love whom you adore
    Hold not back; give free, give much
    to him who yearns thy healing touch

    Yearn, strive, ask of me more
    bind me to thee, I implore
    Of us, make but one, we two
    take all of me, as much of you

    Yet at last, though lingering, spent
    amongst thine shielding, torn and rent
    Swells anew within our breast
    emotion, trust, of nobles blest

    Clarity, mere love, gives way
    whilst lust retreats to yonder day
    Left here, with us, amongst the threads
    lies purpose of anointed beds

    Birthed of divinity, birthed of body
    lies there naught to perceive as naughty
    Found is charity 'tween me and thee
    in such a place man hopes it be

    Renewing of simple man, this way
    builds them for less fortunate day
    As treasures, passions, each doth fail
    whilst remains love's holiest grail

    - Also Me.

    Simply breathtaking. Your muse/wife is obviously a very cherished and beautiful woman to you. Thank you for sharing your wonderful gift with words <3
  • PatheticNoetic
    PatheticNoetic Posts: 905 Member
    The rise, the fall, the breast so fair
    draped in long, dark silken hair
    Femininity wrapped before my eyes
    yet beneath lies bonding prize

    Lust, hot passions in me arise
    some men these feelings do despise
    These embrace I, on thy behalf
    nobler lies not in our path

    Clarity, love, each unyielding
    tears fervently at silken shielding
    Treasures, tastes, much adoration
    these bring forth our mighty nation

    Searching, yearning, yes, reaffirming
    each unspoken and yet binding;
    Laughter, softness, unburdening joy
    all this means that I'm a boy :)

    Worry not for lust unbridled
    these, despised, are for those unsettled
    Fruits of such twixt us, be blessed
    indeed each yields us happiness

    Celebrate, no wait! Give more!
    show this, thy love whom you adore
    Hold not back; give free, give much
    to him who yearns thy healing touch

    Yearn, strive, ask of me more
    bind me to thee, I implore
    Of us, make but one, we two
    take all of me, as much of you

    Yet at last, though lingering, spent
    amongst thine shielding, torn and rent
    Swells anew within our breast
    emotion, trust, of nobles blest

    Clarity, mere love, gives way
    whilst lust retreats to yonder day
    Left here, with us, amongst the threads
    lies purpose of anointed beds

    Birthed of divinity, birthed of body
    lies there naught to perceive as naughty
    Found is charity 'tween me and thee
    in such a place man hopes it be

    Renewing of simple man, this way
    builds them for less fortunate day
    As treasures, passions, each doth fail
    whilst remains love's holiest grail

    - Also Me.
    Holy h3lll..... well done.
    I want to FR you just for this.
  • katy84o
    katy84o Posts: 744 Member
    Robert Frost's - Mending Wall

    And this is my favorite part of the poem:


    Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
    What I was walling in or walling out,
    And to whom I was like to give offense.
    Something there is that doesn't love a wall
  • PatheticNoetic
    PatheticNoetic Posts: 905 Member
    The only poem I remember is from my childhood and it's so juvenile it's embarrassing but I dig it:

    One sunny day, in the middle of the night
    Two dead men got up to fight
    Back to back they faced each other
    Drew their swords and shot the other
    The deaf policeman heard the noise
    And came and got those two dead boys
    And if you don't believe this lie is true
    Ask the blind man
    He saw it too.
  • katy84o
    katy84o Posts: 744 Member
    ^^^My brother would recite that one all the time!
  • Booksandbeaches
    Booksandbeaches Posts: 1,791 Member
    I read this in high school English class and loved it every since then.

    Funeral Blues by W.H. Auden

    Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
    Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
    Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
    Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

    Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
    Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
    Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
    Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

    He was my North, my South, my East and West,
    My working week and my Sunday rest,
    My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
    I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

    The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
    Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
    Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
    For nothing now can ever come to any good.
  • emjaycazz
    emjaycazz Posts: 330 Member
    I'm kind of shocked that Invictus hasn't been already posted:

    Invictus

    Out of the night that covers me,
    Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
    I thank whatever gods may be
    For my unconquerable soul.

    In the fell clutch of circumstance
    I have not winced nor cried aloud.
    Under the bludgeonings of chance
    My head is bloody, but unbowed.

    Beyond this place of wrath and tears
    Looms but the Horror of the shade,
    And yet the menace of the years
    Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

    It matters not how strait the gate,
    How charged with punishments the scroll.
    I am the master of my fate:
    I am the captain of my soul.

    -William Ernest Henley

    We have this printed and framed and up in my son's room.
  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
    Whose woods these are I think I know.
    His house is in the village though;
    He will not see me stopping here
    To watch his woods fill up with snow.

    My little horse must think it queer
    To stop without a farmhouse near
    Between the woods and frozen lake
    The darkest evening of the year.

    He gives his harness bells a shake
    To ask if there is some mistake.
    The only other sound’s the sweep
    Of easy wind and downy flake.

    The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep.
  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
    Whose woods these are I think I know.
    His house is in the village though;
    He will not see me stopping here
    To watch his woods fill up with snow.

    My little horse must think it queer
    To stop without a farmhouse near
    Between the woods and frozen lake
    The darkest evening of the year.

    He gives his harness bells a shake
    To ask if there is some mistake.
    The only other sound’s the sweep
    Of easy wind and downy flake.

    The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep.

    Love the Frost poems. I think my favorite has to be Annabell Lee by Poe. Idk why, but it just speaks to me!
  • bperkins88
    bperkins88 Posts: 357 Member
    My Aunt wrote this for me back in October

    Good-bye my dear mommy pray the lord my soul to keep and good-bye to my dear daddy always remember me

    Im sorry that I have hurt you I wish there was no pain but the lord sent Gabrielle to take me away.

    Remember me in your dreams whether boy or girl I wanted to live for you but the lord just said no

    He had his thought he had his reasons I guess that's all that's needed to know

    But in the heavens I will remember, my parents who loved me so, even though I was never in their arms to hold
  • Nature’s first green is gold,
    Her hardest hue to hold.
    Her early leaf’s a flower;
    But only so an hour.
    Then leaf subsides to leaf.
    So Eden sank to grief,
    So dawn goes down to day.
    Nothing gold can stay.

    Robert Frost
  • michellemybelll
    michellemybelll Posts: 2,228 Member
    Drunk as drunk on turpentine
    From your open kisses,
    Your wet body wedged
    Between my wet body and the strake
    Of our boat that is made of flowers,
    Feasted, we guide it - our fingers
    Like tallows adorned with yellow metal -
    Over the sky's hot rim,
    The day's last breath in our sails.

    Pinned by the sun between solstice
    And equinox, drowsy and tangled together
    We drifted for months and woke
    With the bitter taste of land on our lips,
    Eyelids all sticky, and we longed for lime
    And the sound of a rope
    Lowering a bucket down its well. Then,
    We came by night to the Fortunate Isles,
    And lay like fish
    Under the net of our kisses.

    -Pablo Neruda
  • FatOldManMN
    FatOldManMN Posts: 1,116 Member
    Hey...I know what you mean.
    I enjoyed Poe's poems in college.

    It was many and many a year ago,
    In a kingdom by the sea,
    That a maiden there lived whom you may know
    By the name of Annabel Lee;
    And this maiden she lived with no other thought
    Than to love and be loved by me.
  • KrysBlaze
    KrysBlaze Posts: 196 Member
    E. A. Poe and Frost were poets I really enjoyed in 6th-7th grade. Then I really got into spoken word which was really a free-form/flow...

    Heart on sleeve with words off cuff
    There is something about your love that is never enough
    Your hands run down my back and grip my thighs
    Kisses on my neck cause my temperature to rise
    Your heart against mine-- it's only a matter of time-- until-- fantasy becomes reality
    And we. Are. Poetry in motion. Walls banging with emotions like the way you beat that drum
    I'm a high hat played rhythmically, you call me music, but you Are melody
    My heart on sleeve
    These words off cuff
    There is something :)
    About your love that is never enough.

    -Me
  • MysteriousLdy
    MysteriousLdy Posts: 306 Member
    Cranky Old Man

    What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see?
    What are you thinking .. . when you're looking at me?
    A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise,
    Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with faraway eyes?
    Who dribbles his food .. . ... . . and makes no reply.
    When you say in a loud voice . .'I do wish you'd try!'
    Who seems not to notice . . .the things that you do.
    And forever is losing . . . . . .. . . A sock or shoe?
    Who, resisting or not . . . ... lets you do as you will,
    With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill?
    Is that what you're thinking?. .Is that what you see?
    Then open your eyes, nurse .you're not looking at me.

    I'll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,
    As I do at your bidding, .. . . . as I eat at your will.
    I'm a small child of Ten . .with a father and mother,
    Brothers and sisters .. . . .. . who love one another
    A young boy of Sixteen . . . .. with wings on his feet
    Dreaming that soon now . . .. . . a lover he'll meet.
    A groom soon at Twenty . . . ..my heart gives a leap.
    Remembering, the vows .. .. .that I promised to keep.
    At Twenty-Five, now . . . . .I have young of my own.
    Who need me to guide . . . And a secure happy home.

    A man of Thirty . .. . . . . My young now grown fast.
    Bound to each other . . .. With ties that should last.
    At Forty, my young sons .. .have grown and are gone,
    But my woman is beside me . . to see I don't mourn.
    At Fifty, once more, .. ...Babies play 'round my knee,
    Again, we know children . . . . My loved one and me.

    Dark days are upon me . . . . My wife is now dead.
    I look at the future ... . . . . I shudder with dread.
    For my young are all rearing .. . . young of their own.
    And I think of the years . . . And the love that I've known.

    I'm now an old man . . . . . . .. and nature is cruel.
    It's jest to make old age . . . . . . . look like a fool.
    The body, it crumbles .. .. . grace and vigour, depart.
    There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.
    But inside this old carcass . A young man still dwells,
    And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells
    I remember the joys . . . . .. . I remember the pain.
    And I'm loving and living . . . . . . . life over again.

    I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.
    And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.
    So open your eyes, people .. . . . .. . . open and see.
    Not a cranky old man.

    Look closer . . . . see .. .. . .. .... . ME!!
  • MysteriousLdy
    MysteriousLdy Posts: 306 Member
    One of classic poems that touched me

    "O Fortuna" in the Carmina Burana

    O Fortuna
    velut luna
    statu variabilis,
    semper crescis
    aut decrescis;
    vita detestabilis
    nunc obdurat
    et tunc curat
    ludo mentis aciem,
    egestatem,
    potestatem
    dissolvit ut glaciem.

    Sors immanis
    et inanis,
    rota tu volubilis,
    status malus,
    vana salus
    semper dissolubilis,
    obumbrata
    et velata
    michi quoque niteris;
    nunc per ludum
    dorsum nudum
    fero tui sceleris.

    Sors salutis
    et virtutis
    michi nunc contraria,
    est affectus
    et defectus
    semper in angaria.
    Hac in hora
    sine mora
    corde pulsum tangite;
    quod per sortem
    sternit fortem,
    mecum omnes plangite!

    Translation:

    O Fortune,
    like the moon
    you are changeable,
    ever waxing
    and waning;
    hateful life
    first oppresses
    and then soothes
    as the sharp mind takes it;
    poverty
    and power
    it melts them like ice.

    Fate – monstrous
    and empty,
    you whirling wheel,
    you are malevolent,
    well-being is vain
    and always fades to nothing,
    shadowed
    and veiled
    you plague me too;
    now through the game
    I bring my bare back
    to your villainy.

    Fate is against me
    in health
    and virtue,
    driven on
    and weighted down,
    always enslaved.
    So at this hour
    without delay
    pluck the vibrating strings;
    since Fate
    strikes down the strong man,
    everyone weep with me!
  • Most Female Killers Use Poison (I don't know who wrote it)

    "Think about the first name you were ever called,
    and then think how long it took until
    you got called a p***y
    or a slut,
    or a b***h,
    or a *kitten*,
    all of which are words that fall too close to ‘girl.’
    Think about the first time you got called a ‘girl’
    and they said it with a sneer.
    Like it was a bad thing.

    For a boy, it is the lowest degradation to get called a girl.
    For a girl, it is the lowest degradation to get called a girl.

    Remember, black widow spiders and female praying mantises eat their partners after intercourse.
    Remember, it’s the lionesses who hunt.
    They come back with bloody muzzles, dragging bloated carcasses as the alpha lion strides around with his mane puffing out.
    Remember, it’s only the female mosquitoes who drink blood.
    We’re the ones who do the necessary work, dirty our hands,
    f**k or fight or both.
    We’re often the smaller sex, which makes us a harder target
    as we slink close and sink our teeth in.

    Remember: we’re deadly.

    You should be proud to be called a girl.”
  • AsianSuperfly
    AsianSuperfly Posts: 73 Member
    Not a poem but rather a song.

    A Mother's Love Is A Blessing
    (Thomas P Keenan)

    An Irish boy was leaving
    Leaving his native home
    Crossing the broad Atlantic
    Once more he wished to roam
    And as he was leaving his mother
    Who was standing on the quay
    She threw her arms around his waist
    And this to him did say

    A mother's love's a blessing
    No matter where you roam
    Keep her while she's living
    You'll miss her when she's gone
    Love her as in childhood
    Though feeble, old and grey
    For you'll never miss a mother's love
    Till she's buried beneath the clay

    And as the years go onwards
    I'll settle down in life
    And choose a nice young colleen
    And take her for my wife
    And as the babes grow older
    And climb around my knee
    I'll teach them the very same lesson
    That my mother taught to me

    A mother's love's a blessing
    No matter where you roam
    Keep her while she's living
    You'll miss her when she's gone
    Love her as in childhood
    Though feeble, old and grey
    For you'll never miss a mother's love
    Till she's buried beneath the clay


    Remember this for Mothers Day.

    "A mother's love's a blessing
    No matter where you roam
    Keep her while she's living
    You'll miss her when she's gone
    Love her as in childhood
    Though feeble, old and grey
    For you'll never miss a mother's love
    Till she's buried beneath the clay" <<<<<< I like this verse.
  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
    In the pale light of midnight I tried to take flight
    But my wings were too weak and the stars were too bright


    So I waited a week til the winter winds blew
    Stars were shrouded in clouds and the moon was too



    Not a thing alive witnessed my wings unfold
    As my breath grew quick and my heart grew bold


    And soon I was soaring, oh, upwards and on
    Til the sky was all ‘round and the ground was gone



    And I watched as each object, each person, each place
    Became one glowing orb spinning slowly in space



    And I thought to myself, ‘through the eyes of a bird
    This life and this Earth seem entirely absurd’



    Then I suddenly felt indescribably small
    And wondered if anything mattered at all


    Like what people wished for or what people felt
    Or whether the ice caps would finally melt


    Then, I realized, after an hour or two
    That things matter, because, they matter to you


    Although what you do won’t change much from up here
    It can comfort or crush those you find yourself near


    This universe may be enormous and strange
    But look close to home and there’s much you can change


    And now that I know it, that’s just what I’ll do
    Informed and enthused by my new point of view


    It seems that such questions as grand as existence
    Can only be solved from a reasonable distance


    By Metaphorest
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    Open your eyes and see your canvas of life.

    Don't hide the brush strokes of failures.

    Embrace them.

    Allow your achievements to bleed into them & create colors not seen by the eye,

    but by the heart.

    ~Lanny
  • Skinnymunkii
    Skinnymunkii Posts: 191 Member
  • sheepysaccount
    sheepysaccount Posts: 608 Member
    I am a little obsessed with poetry, so bear with me. For some unusual poetry, see the last four.

    My favorites are
    any sonnet by Shakespeare
    "The Road Not Taken" - Robert Frost
    "Like This" - Rumi
    "Annabel Lee" - Edgar Allan Poe
    "Jabberwocky" - Lewis Carroll
    "Kubla Khan" - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
    "To a Mouse" - Robert Burns
    "A Dream" - Christina Rossetti
    "Walking Around" - Pablo Neruda
    "He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven" - W.B. Yeats

    "Andrew" - Andrea Gibson (her poetry in general is amazing!)
    "Desidarata" - Max Ehrmann (not your traditional poetry)
    "Why I Hate REligion, But Love Jesus" - Jefferson Bethke (spoken word, but that also counts, right?)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY
    "may i feel said he" - e.e. cumming (and yes, this is raunchy)
    also, listen to it!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv-HIedmktE
  • LeanneHarrington3
    LeanneHarrington3 Posts: 100 Member
    Mary Rose sat on a pin. Mary Rose.

    Does that count?