Laura Corin Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 For many years it has been this poem by Yeats, which was read at our wedding: He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread upon my dreams. Recently I came across two early poems by Philip Larkin that I like: The Trees and First Sight Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrganicAnn Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I can't remember what its title but the Christina Rosetti poem that begins "When I am dead my dearest, sing no sad songs for me" I would put many Yeats poets are on my list, also Wendell Berry's Peace of Wild Things. When I was a kid, it was Robert Louis Stevenson "Time to Rise" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoriM Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 The Perfect Husband He tells you when you've got on too much lipstick And helps you with your girdle when your hips stick. --Ogden Nash A Word to Husbands To keep your marriage brimming With love in your loving cup, Whenever you're wrong, admit it; Whenever you'r right, shut up. --Ogden Nash Celery Celery, raw Develops the jaw, But celery, stewed, Is more quietly chewed. --Ogden Nash (Anyone seeing a pattern? I love Ogden Nash. He just delights me. But then, yesterday I spent an inordinate amount of time giggling over the photos of Chris McVeigh. So, I'm weird.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loupelou Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 (edited) I love this sweet and simple poem that reflects the many desires I have for my children. For A Child - Fannie Stearns Davis Your friends shall be the Tall Wind, The River and the Tree; The Sun that laughs and marches, The Swallows and the Sea. Your prayers shall be the murmur Of grasses in the rain; The song of wildwood thrushes That makes God glad again. And you shall run and wander, And you shall dream and sing Of brave things and bright things Beyond the swallow's wings. And you shall envy no man, Nor hurt your heart with sighs, For I will keep you simple That God may make you wise. This one by Longfellow was my favorite as a kid. The Arrow and The Song I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For who has sight so keen and strong, That it can follow the flight of song? Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke; And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend. i carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) I love Tennyson's Maud, a little long to put here. The Lady of Shalott too! I love Shakespeare's sonnets. Longfellow's The Wreck of the Hesperus. Edgar Allan Poe's A Dream within a Dream. Anything by Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Edited June 25, 2009 by Loupelou Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 What a great thread! My personal favorite is a poem my son wrote for me It's beautiful - thanks for sharing! My favourites are in Afrikaans by Louis Leipoldt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlebug42 Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 (edited) I have to add another vote for "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. I also love "Annabel Lee". Here are a few others of my favorites I can remember from childhood. Jenny Kissed Me (Since my name is Jenni, my Mom read me this one a lot). by Leigh Hunt Jenny kiss'd me when we met, Jumping from the chair she sat in; Time, you thief, who love to get Sweets into your list, put that in! Say I'm weary, say I'm sad, Say that health and wealth have miss'd me, Say I'm growing old, but add, Jenny kiss'd me. In Flanders Fields By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. O Captain, My Captain by Walt Whitman O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills, For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding, For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head! It is some dream that on the deck You've fallen cold and dead. My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will. The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Exult O shores, and ring O bells! But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. Edited June 23, 2009 by littlebug42 Change weird formatting in poem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom3tn Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 The one that sticks out the most in my mind from when I was in school, would be If, by Rudyard Kipling. I always loved that one. And anything by Ogden Nash cracked me up :) But as an adult, I heard this one in a movie (Truly, Madly, Deeply) and couldn't get it out of my mind: If suddenly you do not exist, if suddenly you no longer live, I shall live on. I do not dare, I do not dare to write it, if you die. I shall live on. For where a man has no voice, there, my voice. Where blacks are beaten, I cannot be dead. When my brothers go to prison I shall go with them. When victory, not my victory, but the great victory comes, even though I am mute I must speak; I shall see it come even though I am blind. No, forgive me. If you no longer live, if you, beloved, my love, if you have died, all the leaves will fall in my breast, it will rain on my soul night and day, the snow will burn my heart, I shall walk with frost and fire and death and snow, my feet will want to walk to where you are sleeping, but I shall stay alive, because above all things you wanted me indomitable, and, my love, because you know that I am not only a man but all mankind. It's called Dead Woman, by Pablo Neruda. I only heard part of the last stanza in the movie, but it haunted me until I found out where it came from... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutmeg Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I just love this portion of Tennyson's "Ulysses": Death closes all: but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew Tho' much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizabeth Conley Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Lemme see... What time is it? Seriously, I have lots of favorites. Here's one you don't hear a lot: http://fasolt.mtcc.com/~mom/soap.html Naughty Soap Song by Dorothy Aldis Just when I'm ready to Start on my ears That is the time that my Soap disappears. It jumps from my fingers and Slithers and slides Down to the end of the Tub, where it hides. And acts in a most diso- Bedient way. And that's why my soap's growing Thinner each day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Me-"Lady of Shalot" by Tennyson "Wreck of the Hesperus" by Longfellow Dh-"If" by Kipling Girls-"The Village Blacksmith" by Longfellow along with "The Children's Hour" They also both loved and memorized "The Swing" by Robert Louis Stevenson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catalinakel Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Batter my heart, three person'd God by John Donne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquirrellyMama Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Results and Roses by Edgar A. Guest The man who wants a garden fair, Or small or very big, With flowers growing here and there, Must bend his back and dig. The things are mighty few on earth That wishes can attain. Whate'er we want of any worth We've got to work to gain. It matters not what goal you seek Its secret here reposes: You've got to dig from week to week To get Results or Roses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquirrellyMama Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I have to add another vote for "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. In high school I wrote a parody of "The Road Not Taken" called "The Cow Not Milked". I also wrote one from "The Raven" called "The Cow". I need to find those again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifera Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 John Masefield - Sea-Fever I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by, And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking, And a gray mist on the sea's face and a gray dawn breaking. I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea gulls crying. I must go down to teh seas again to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife; And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover, And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over. It used to amuse me that Captain Kirk would quote the second line. There are many other poems/poets that I like, but that one's been my favorite for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claire+3 Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 This poem has kept me going on many days. Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery any more. Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer. When they want you to buy something they will call you. When they want you to die for profit they will let you know. So, friends, every day do something that won't compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it. Denounce the government and embrace the flag. Hope to live in that free republic for which it stands. Give your approval to all you cannot understand. Praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed. Ask the questions that have no answers. Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest. Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold. Call that profit. Prophesy such returns. Put your faith in the two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years. Listen to carrion - put your ear close, and hear the faint chattering of the songs that are to come. Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. So long as women do not go cheap for power, please women more than men. Ask yourself: Will this satisfy a woman satisfied to bear a child? Will this disturb the sleep of a woman near to giving birth? Go with your love to the fields. Lie down in the shade. Rest your head in her lap. Swear allegiance to what is nighest your thoughts. As soon as the generals and the politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it. Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn't go. Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction. Practice resurrection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalknot Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I have two all-time favorites, depending on which mood I'm in :) "Myself" by Edgar Guest (I'm glad to see so many others enjoy his work!) and "Time does not bring relief ..." by Edna St Vincent Millay. They're below, for any one not familiar with them: Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Who told me time would ease me of my pain! I miss him in the weeping of the rain; I want him at the shrinking of the tide; The old snows melt from every mountain-side, And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane; But last year's bitter loving must remain Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide! There are a hundred places where I fear To go,--so with his memory they brim! And entering with relief some quiet place Where never fell his foot or shone his face I say, "There is no memory of him here!" And so stand stricken, so remembering him! *~*~*~* I have to live with myself, and so, I want to be fit for myself to know; I want to be able as days go by, Always to look myself straight in the eye; I don't want to stand with the setting sun And hate myself for the things I've done. I don't want to keep on a closet shelf A lot of secrets about myself, And fool myself as I come and go Into thinking that nobody else will know The kind of man I really am; I don't want to dress myself up in sham. I want to deserve all men's respect; But here in this struggle for fame and pelf, I want to be able to like myself. I don't want to think as I come and go That I'm for bluster and bluff and empty show. I never can hide myself from me, I see what others may never see, I know what others may never know, I never can fool myself -- and so, Whatever happens, I want to be Self-respecting and conscience free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhM Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Wow - great post! Thanks for asking! If and The God of the Copybook Headings were already mentioned, as well as Captain, My Captain. I don't think Ozymandias (by Shelley) has been mentioned. I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear: `My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caitilin Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Almost anything by A. E. Housman, the love poetry of Pablo Neruda, the love poems of Robert Graves, and almost anything by Edna St. Vincent Millay. "My candle burns at both ends, It will not last the night-- But Ah! my foes, and Oh, my friends, It gives a lovely light" I feel like this is often a description of the HSing mother's life!:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in KY Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Well, I have a lot I love, but since I am in That Sort of Mood, I would have a hard time choosing just one from A.A.Milne. Instead, I will enter one that always makes my kiddos laugh, by Shel Silverstein: As I spit from the 26th floor And it floats on the breeze to the ground, Does it fall upon hats Or on white Persian cats, Or on heads—with a pitty-pat sound? I used to think life was a bore, But I don't feel that way any more As I count up the hits And I smile as I sits As I spit from the 26h floor. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in KY Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 (Anyone seeing a pattern? I love Ogden Nash. He just delights me....) Over here, too. DS's favorite Ogden Nash selection is: The trouble with a kitten is that Eventually it becomes a cat. Yeah, we have severe cat allergies over here. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helena Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 I'm so glad this thread came back! Now that I've committed to 'Sea & Sky' next year I need to find a few poems to go with that. Any suggestions? At the moment I'm loving this one: http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/104053-Herbert--Ashley-Asquith-A-Ship-Sails-up-to-Bideford. Rosie, I LOVE your new favorite poem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Ledge Academy Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 The Coin by Sara Teasdale The Charge of the Light Brigade by Tennyson Sea Fever by John Maesfield just to name a few... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 My kids love When Daddy Fell into the Pond and The Song of the Pop Bottlers. Books Fall Open, You Fall In. The Owl and the Pussycat. If by Kipling. Opportunity by Edward Rowland Sill (Which someone posted on the old board years ago). The Charge of the Light Brigade. The Man from Snowy River by Banjo Patterson (there's a video of this one read with clips from the movie that is outstanding). Cargoes by John Masefield. I have always liked To Lucasta, Going to the Wars by Robert Lovelace. I knew I had a winner when my now husband quoted it to me on a dark beach soon after we'd met. It was one of his favorites too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyNellen Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 The Eagle is my favorite, as well. Such imagery! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeacherZee Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 (edited) I can't remember what its title but the Christina Rosetti poem that begins "When I am dead my dearest, sing no sad songs for me" That would be "Song" SONG by: Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) WHEN I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on, as if in pain; And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget. It is one of my favourites. I have also discovered another one by her this year that I love. In an Artist's Studio by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894) One face looks out from all his canvases, One selfsame figure sits or walks or leans: We found her hidden just behind those screens, That mirror gave back all her loveliness. A queen in opal or in ruby dress, A nameless girl in freshest summer-greens, A saint, an angel -- every canvas means The same one meaning, neither more nor less. He feeds upon her face by day and night, And she with true kind eyes looks back on him, Fair as the moon and joyful as the light: Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim; Not as she is, but was when hope shone bright; Not as she is, but as she fills his dream. Edited June 25, 2009 by TeacherZee formating issues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.