what is your favorite short poem or quote?

Question

thank you in advance

Answer 1

The snowman in the garden said:
"You humans must be thick,
You've made my eyes, my nose, my mouth,
... but where the hell's my d*ck!"

Ha, ha... oh... sorry, just realised you posted this under the Art & Humanities section so I'm guessing you were looking for something a little more tasteful.

Ok, well, I like this poem. Not sure why, but I think it's the last two lines that does it - sums up life perfectly:

The Crystal Gazer

I shall gather myself into my self again,
I shall take my scattered selves and make them one.
I shall fuse them into a polished crystal ball
Where I can see the moon and the flashing sun.
I Shall sit like a sibyl, hour after hour intent.
Watching the future come and the present go -
And the little shifting pictures of people rushing
In tiny self-importance to and fro.

Sara Teasdale

As for a quote, well, this sums me up perfectly:

"I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone."

Lord Byron

... but you probably guessed that I was a loner after reading the snowman poem...

Answer 2

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler. Long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

Then took the other as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear.
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

This poem has really affected me throughout my life and I appreciate it.

Answer 3

You are old Father William the young man said and your hair has become very white. And yet you incessantly stand on your head, do you think at your age this is right?

In my youth, Father William replied to his son, I feared it might injure the brain. But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none, why I do it again and again!

That's only part of a much longer poem - Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll - but I always remember my grandfather quoting it in my childhood and that's the part I always remember. He also used to quote ... If seven maids with seven mops swept it for half a year, do you suppose, the wulrus said, that we would get it clear? I doubt it said the carpenter and shed a bitter tear.

Once again a tiny part of a much longer poem but always remember that fondly. :)

Answer 4

JABBERWOCKY Lewis Carroll (from in the process the finding-Glass and What Alice got here across There, 1872) `Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble interior the wabe: All mimsy have been the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. "pay attention the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! pay attention the Jubjub poultry, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!" He took his vorpal sword in hand: long term the manxome foe he sought -- So rested he by ability of the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in theory. And, as in uffish theory he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, got here whiffling in the process the tulgey timber, And burbled because it got here! One, 2! One, 2! and in the process and in the process the vorpal blade went chuckle-snack! He left it lifeless, and with its head He went galumphing decrease back. "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his exhilaration. `Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble interior the wabe; All mimsy have been the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. this might properly be a translation of the 1st verse, "It became night, and the sleek lively badgers have been scratching and uninteresting holes interior the hill-edge, all unhappy have been the parrots and the grave turtles squeaked out."

Answer 5

The Embankment (The Fantasia of a Fallen Gentleman on a cold, bitter night)

Once, in finesse of fiddles found I ecstasy.
In a flash of gold heels on the hard pavement.
Now see I
That warmth's the very stuff of poesy
Oh God, make small
The old star-eaten blanket of the sky,
That I may fold it round me and in comfort lie.

TE Hulme (1883 - 1917)

Answer 6

In fury and terror the tempest broke
It tore up the pine and shattered the oak
Yet the hummingbird hovered within the hour
sipping clear rain from a trumpet flower.
ANONYMOUS

Answer 7

I have two favorite quotes One is from the late musician Jim Croce "If you dig it do it; if you raelly dig it, do it twice."

The Other is from comedian Ron White, "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade, then find someone who's life gave them vodka and have a party."

Answer 8

A Poison Tree

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.


And I watered it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.


And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright ;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,


And into my garden stole
When the night had veil’d the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

William Blake

Answer 9

Simple Simon met a Pie-man
Going to the fair
Said Simple Simon to the Pie man
let me taste your ware
Said the Pie man to simple Simon
show me first your penny
Said Simple Simon to the pie man
Indeed i have not any

Answer 10

A man may look on glass
On it may stay his eye.
Or if he pleaseth, through it pass
And then the heavens espy

The only verse of a hymn that has meant anything at all to me