Anyone have a favorite poem?

I am weary of the Garden,
Said the Rose;
For the winter winds are sighing,
All my playmates round me dying,
And my leaves will soon be lying
'Neath the snows.

But I hear my Mistress coming,
Said the Rose;
She will take me to her chamber,
Where the honeysuckles clamber,
And I'll bloom there all December
Spite the snows.

Sweeter fell her lily finger
Than the bee!
Ah, how feebly I resisted,
Smoothed my thorns, and e'en assisted
As all blushing I was twisted
Off my tree.

And she fixed me in her bosom
Like a star;
And I flashed there all the morning,
Jasmin, honeysuckle scorning
Parasites forever fawning
That they are.

And when evening came she set me
In a vase
All of rare and radiant metal,
And I felt her red lips settle
On my leaves til each proud petal
Touched her face.

And I shone about her slumbers
Like a light
And, I said, instead of weeping,
In the garden vigil keeping,
Here I'll watch my Mistress sleeping
Every night.

But when morning with its sunbeams
Softly shone,
In the mirror where she braided
Her brown hair I saw how jaded,
Old and colorless and faded,
I had grown.

Not a drop of dew was on me,
Never one;
From my leaves no odors started,
All my perfume had departed,
I lay pale and broken-hearted
In the sun.

Still I said, her smile is better
Than the rain;
Though my fragrance may forsake me,
To her bosom she will take me,
And with crimson kisses make me
Young again.

So she took me . . . gazed a second . . .
Half a sigh . . .
Then, alas, can hearts so harden?
Without ever asking pardon,
Threw me back into the garden,
There to die.

How the jealous garden gloried
In my fall!
How the honeysuckle chid me,
How the sneering jasmins bid me
Light the long gray grass that hid me
Like a pall.

There I lay beneath her window
In a swoon,
Till the earthworm o'er me trailing
Woke me just at twilight's failing,
As the whip-poor-will was wailing
To the moon

But I hear the storm-winds stirring
In their lair;
And I know they soon will lift me
In their giant arms and sift me
Into ashes as they drift me
Through the air.

So I pray them in their mercy
Just to take
From my heart of hearts, or near it,
The last living leaf, and bear it
To her feet, and bid her wear it
For my sake.


--George H. Miles

Fire and Ice
Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire;
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Whoops you said favorite...this is not my favorite although Frost in general is one of mine, I thought this particular poem would be good for GLP though! ;-)

Last Edited by Winningjob on 04/17/2010 01:05 AM

that was awesome. Thanks!

The Tiger
William Blake

Tiger Tiger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat.
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile His work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger Tiger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Find happiness in nature
In the beauty of a mountain
In the serenity of the sea
Find happiness in friendship
In the fun of doing things together
In the sharing and understanding
Find happiness in your family
In the stability of knowing that someone cares
In the strength of love and honesty
Find happiness in yourself
In your mind and body
In your values and achievements
Find happiness in
Everything
You
Do

a moonlit night this hallows eve
run if ye may but ye may never leave
hide in the closet and quietlt breathe
tis only the wind you try to believe
Darkness foreboding out the window you stare
kneel at your bed ask for forgiveness through prayer
absently fondly the cross that you wear
as you try to fight off the cold dark despair
for you he is hunting
for you he desires
scalding hot brimstone
and searing hot fires
nightmares in bed as your body perspires
the devils my master and i am his squire



"the devils squire" written by ...ME

Spooky, but good.

nicely done ac

Ozymandias

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveler 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 upon 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.

tyvm cept for the typos i wrote that like 15 yrs ago about halloween

This and the other one are tied, i've loved them both from the first reading. Nice thread OP :-) :hf: :peace:

Annabel Lee~~~Poe

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.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

very nice :-) :peace:

She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro' the room
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She looked down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror cracked from side to side;
'The curse is upon me,' she cried
The Lady of Shallot.

Tennyson.

kings and peasants have the same fate

Fantastic

I like this one too.

"At the Ringing of the Bells"

R. Steiner

To wonder at beauty
To stand guard over truth
To look up to the noble
To resolve on the good:

This leads the human being to purpose in living
To right in his doing
To peace in his feeling
To light in his thinking

And teaches him trust in the working of God
In all that there is
In the widths of the world
In the depths of the soul...

I have been a fan of Poe since childhood. Love it.

I love annabel lee

One I wrote:

Apathetic Paradise

This forest I call a heart,
Earth I call a soul,
Scorched by their failure.

Blackened trees I call arms,
Offered by wildlife I call love,
Decimated by their failure.

What a paradise I call apathy,
Callousness I call freedom,
Sewn and grown by their failure.

Very nice Sly.

My Uncle used to babysit me and was a big Sabbath freak. It is where I learned to love these lyrics:

HEAVEN AND HELL

Sing me a song, you're a singer
Do me a wrong, you're a bringer of evil
The devil is never a maker
The less that you give, you're a taker
So it's on and on and on, it's heaven and hell, oh well

The lover of life's not a sinner
The ending is just a beginner
The closer you get to the meaning
The sooner you'll know that you're dreaming
So it's on and on and on, oh it's on and on and on
It goes on and on and on, heaven and hell
I can tell, fool, fool!

Well if it seems to be real, it's illusion
For every moment of truth, there's confusion in life
Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer
And it's on and on, on and on and on....

They say that life's a carousel
Spinning fast, you've got to ride it well
The world is full of kings and queens
Who blind your eyes and steal your dreams
Its heaven and hell, oh well
And they'll tell you black is really white
The moon is just the sun at night
And when you walk in golden halls
You get to keep the gold that falls
Its heaven and hell, oh no!
Fool, fool!
You've got to bleed for the dancer!
Fool, fool!
Look for the answer!
Fool, fool, fool!

long poem so only a small part...but the best obviously

"O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity. Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty"---that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. "

keats: ode on a Grecian urn

I knew GLP was host to some good minds

ya makes me wanna go write

“Sex is interesting, but it's not totally important. I mean it's not even as important (physically) as excretion. A man can go seventy years without a piece of ass, but he can die in a week without a bowel movement.” - Charles Bukowski

what do you think of this one?

wicked child

hush there wicked child,
close your eyes and dream awhile
time has come to fly
to touch the sun and fall away
dream, child, soar aloft
free your mind of shadowed thought
follow journeys end
to glimpse the very end of time
and rise through it back again
eons age but a blink of eye
wicked child, your impish smile
lights the stars
and fades the night
gleaming, laughing, lantern bright
wicked child how did it came to pass
that you fell from heaven's grace
to make this dark and dreary place
finer by your sublime display
hallowed child of ethereal ways
rise once more and seek your path

What/who is that from?

It's intriguing

it's one of mine :-)

I've read and re-read it about 20 times now, and I like it more and more each time I get through it

Bravo! I wish I could write poetry as well as the posters here so far

thank you - it was written to be spoken, so i wonder how much gets lost in translation. I don't often share them on here but you have a nice thread and i felt moved to do so :-)

Last Edited by Thoughts Faux Fodder on 04/17/2010 01:41 AM

Canst thou please now tell me why thy thoughts have turned astray, i've searched for you forever love, why dost thou love still stay?

I lie in wake in faith that thou will show your face once more, but each face that i look apon is a reflection none the more.

I need you more than ever
can you hear my heart felt cry
your my only life endeavor
can't you see the reason why

Canst thou please now show me what i've longed for us to be, A couple joined together, made from heaven, to be free

I cry for sake and purpose that we'll soon join hand in hand, and gaze apon a future where we both shall surely stand

I love you more than words could say
Oh please my love return
my heart was meant for you my love
it's for you i'll always yearn

By "Asherah"

WOW i really like that one :-)