What is your favorite poem?

Question

Post me your favorite poem.

I love Nothing Gold Can Stay!

Answer 1

"Lord Randal "


"O where ha' you been, Lord Randal, my son?
And where ha' you been, my handsome young man?"
"I ha' been at the greenwood; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi' huntin', and fain wad lie down."


"And wha met ye there, Lord Randal, my son?
And wha met ye there, my handsome young man?"
"O I met wi' my true-love; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi' huntin', and fain wad lie down."


"And what did she give you, Lord Randal, my son?
And what did she give you, my handsome young man?"
"Eels fried in a pan; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi' huntin', and fain wad lie down."

"And wha gat your leavin's, Lord Randal, my son?
And wha gat your leavin's, my handsome young man?"
"My hawks and my hounds; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi' huntin', and fain wad lie down."


"And what becam of them, Lord Randal, my son?
And what becam of them, my handsome young man?"
"They stretched their legs out and died; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi' huntin', and fain wad lie down."

"O I fear you are poisoned, Lord Randal, my son!
I fear you are poisoned, my handsome young man!"
"O yes, I am poisoned; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."


"What d' ye leave to your mother, Lord Randal, my son?
What d' ye leave to your mother, my handsome young man?"
"Four and twenty milk kye; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."


"What d' ye leave to your sister, Lord Randal, my son?
What d' ye leave to your sister, my handsome young man?"
"My gold and my silver; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."

“What d' ye leave to your brother, Lord Randal, my son?
What d' ye leave to your brother, my handsome young man?"
"My houses and my land; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."

“What d' ye leave to your true-love, Lord Randal, my son?
What d' ye leave to your true-love, my handsome young man?"
"I leave her hell and fire; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."

--Anonymous

Answer 2

Sometime during eternity
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti


Sometime during eternity
some guys show up
and one of them
who shows up real late
is a kind of carpenter
from some square-type place
like Galilee
and he starts wailing
and claiming he is hip
to who made heaven
and earth
and that the cat
who really laid it on us
is his Dad

And moreover
he adds
It's all writ down
on some scroll-type parchments
which some henchmen
leave lying around the Dead Sea somewhere
a long time ago
and which you won't even find
for a coupla thousand years or so
or at least for
nineteen hundred and forty-seven
of them
to be exact
and even then
nobody really believes them
or me
for that matter

You're hot
they tell him

And they cool him

They stretch him on the Tree to cool
And everybody after that
is always making models
of this Tree
with Him hung up
and always crooning His name
and calling Him to come down
and sit in
on their combo
as if he is THE king cat
who's got to blow
or they can't quite make it

Only he don't come down
from His Tree

Him just hang there
on His Tree
looking real Petered out
and real cool
and also
according to a roundup
of late world news
from the usual unreliable sources
real dead

Answer 3

The Charge of the Light Brigade, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War.

Background on the real charge of the light brigade: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade

The full poem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade_%28poem%29#The_full_poem

Why I like it?

It very sad, it talks about the hopelessness of the 600 as they rode into the valley towards Balaclava and imminent death.

You can listen to the author read the poem, it is a wax cylinder recording from 1890: http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=1570

Answer 4

" This light I've tended forty years
will now be run by a set of gears
fair or foul the wind may blow
smooth or rough the seas may go
its all the same
the ships will now run to an automated light
But i wonder...
....will the grass stay green, the brass stay bright
the lens stay clear and the windows clean?
Did ever a piece of wire or gear
a cry for help in the darkness hear?
and will ever an automatic thing
plant marigolds every spring?"

Answer 5

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs 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

Answer 6

This is my favorite that I wroted and got a friend to fix it.

“ Special friend”

A little girl laid there asleep on the couch,

She felt something special was going to happen.

Whisper of wind, around her.

Howl into the night.

As a shadow, darker than air,

appeared beside her body.

A smile widened on his face,

And he lifted her fragile, pale body.

Her small hazel eyes opened,

noticing a tall figure

holding her.

But she didn’t scream or cry,

simply just whimpered in his arms.

“ Innocent, sweet, & fragile.”

He sat on her bed,

hearing her pale body

breathe against him.

Nothing much, for she knew

Why he came.

He heard her tiny voice mumble,

“ I don’t mind, if you take my blood.”

Silence filled the room.

He slowly leaned down,

and bit her neck as she pulled on his shirt,

with her small hand.

Hearing her whimper, a little.

Soon she slowly relaxed,

Laying against his warm body.

Overwhelmed, by how she reacted

He tilted her head up.

Gazing down, he laid a hand on her soft cheek,

And brushed some hair from her face.

He laid her down and pulled the covers over her,

Slowly leaving, he felt a tug on his sleeve.

She whispered, “don’t leave.”

He leaned close and kissed her on the lips.

“ I’ll be back, later.” He whispered,

Disappearing into the shadowy night.

Answer 7

Success by Emily Dickenson

Answer 8

i have several favorite poems

Title: The Lady's Yes
Forum: Elizabeth Barrett Browning Forum
Author: More poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Poem:
"Yes," I answered you last night;
"No," this morning, Sir, I say.
Colours seen by candlelight,
Will not look the same by day.

When the viols played their best,
Lamps above, and laughs below---
Love me sounded like a jest,
Fit for Yes or fit for No.

Call me false, or call me free---
Vow, whatever light may shine,
No man on your face shall see
Any grief for change on mine.

Yet the sin is on us both---
Time to dance is not to woo---
Wooer light makes fickle troth---
Scorn of me recoils on you.

Learn to win a lady's faith
Nobly, as the thing is high;
Bravely, as for life and death---
With a loyal gravity.

Lead her from the festive boards,
Point her to the starry skies,
Guard her, by your truthful words,
Pure from courtship's flatteries.

By your truth she shall be true---
Ever true, as wives of yore---
And her Yes, once said to you,
SHALL be Yes for evermore.



Title: Aedh Wishes for the Clothes of Heaven
Forum: William Butler Yeats Forum
Author: More poems by William Butler Yeats
Poem:
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 on my dreams.

John Donne
Batter My Heart Three Personed God
BATTER my heart, three person'd God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due, 5
Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely'I love you,'and would be loved faine,
But am betroth'd unto your enemie: 10
Divorce mee,'untie, or breake that knot againe;
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.

Answer 9

I love Very Like a Whale by Ogden Nash. Every time I read it, I find something new to think about. Here's a link to it:
http://plagiarist.com/poetry/534/

Answer 10

"The Splendor Falls" by Alfred Lord Tennyson is ONE of my favorites...(I have so many I chose one of the older of my favorites) because it reminds it paints a picture with words so vivid you can see what he writes...I love poems like this!

The Splendor Falls

The splendor falls on castle walls
And snowy summits old in story;
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

O, hark, O, hear! how thin and clear,
And thinner, clearer, farther going!
O, sweet and far from cliff and scar
The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!
Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying,
Blow, bugles; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

O love, they die in yon rich sky,
They faint on hill or field or river;
Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
And grow forever and forever.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.

Answer 11

Do Not Go Gentle, Dylan Thomas.