What's your favorite poem?

Question

Mine is....

And Death Shall Have No Dominion by Dylan Thomas

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead mean naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clen bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Through they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

Answer 1

Mine is one I had to memorize when I was in grade school. I still remember most of it by heart:

Block City by Robert Loius Stevenson

WHAT are you able to build with your blocks?
Castles and palaces, temples and docks.
Rain may keep raining, and others go roam,
But I can be happy and building at home.

Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea,
There I’ll establish a city for me:
A kirk and a mill and a palace beside,
And a harbour as well where my vessels may ride.

Great is the palace with pillar and wall,
A sort of a tower on the top of it all,
And steps coming down in an orderly way
To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay.

This one is sailing and that one is moored:
Hark to the song of the sailors on board!
And see on the steps of my palace, the kings
Coming and going with presents and things.

Now I have done with it, down let it go!
All in a moment the town is laid low.
Block upon block lying scattered and free,
What is there left of my town by the sea?

Yet as I saw it, I see it again,
The kirk and the palace, the ships and the men,
And as long as I live and where’er I may be,
I’ll always remember my town by the sea.

Answer 2

Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The House

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark
that he barks every time they leave the house.
They must switch him on on their way out.

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
I close all the windows in the house
and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast
but I can still hear him muffled under the music,
barking, barking, barking,

and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,
his head raised confidently as if Beethoven
had included a part for barking dog.

When the record finally ends he is still barking,
sitting there in the oboe section barking,
his eyes fixed on the conductor who is
entreating him with his baton

while the other musicians listen in respectful
silence to the famous barking dog solo,
that endless coda that first established
Beethoven as an innovative genius.

Billy Collins

Answer 3

A Dream Within A Dream ~ by Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?



* I also like the Raven. But you probably already know that poeam.

Answer 4

Like This

If anyone asks you
how the perfect satisfaction
of all our sexual wanting
will look, lift your face
and say,
Like this.

When someone mentions the gracefulness
of the nightsky, climb up on the roof
and dance and say,
Like this?

If anyone wants to know what “spirit” is,
or what “God’s fragrance” means,
lean your head toward him or her.
Keep your face there close.
Like this.

When someone quotes the old poetic image
about clouds gradually uncovering the moon,
slowly loosen knot by knot the strings
of your robe.
Like this?

If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead,
don’t try to explain the miracle.
Kiss me on the lips.
Like this. Like this.

When someone asks what it means
to “die for love,” point
here.

If someone asks how tall I am, frown
and measure with your fingers the space
between the creases on your forehead.
This tall.

The soul sometimes leave the body, then returns.
When someone doesn’t believe that,
walk back into my house.
Like this.


When lovers moan,
they’re telling our story.
Like this.

I am a sky where spirits live.
Stare into this deepening blue,
while the breeze says a secret.
Like this.

When someone asks what there is to do,
light the candle in his hand.
Like this.

How did Joseph’s scent come back to Jacob?
Huuuuu.

How did Jacob’s sight return?
Huuuu.

A little wind cleans the eyes.
Like this.

When Shams comes back from Tabriz,
he’ll put his head around the edge
of the door to surprise us.
Like this.

--Jalal al-Din Rumi, from The Essential Rumi,
translated by Coleman Barks

Answer 5

The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee [Angle of Geese] by N. Scott Momaday

Answer 6

MY life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,

So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.

Emily Dickenson.

There are many poets whose work I enjoy, just this is the one surfacing right now...

Answer 7

Back in black,
I hit the sack,
I've been too long I'm glad to be back,
Yes I'm let loose,
From the noose,
That's kept me hanging about.
I've been looking at the sky,
'Cause it's gettin' me high,
Forget the hearse 'cause I never die.
I got nine lives,
Cat's eyes,
Abusin' every one of them and running wild.

'Cause I'm back,
Yes, I'm back,
Well, I'm back,
Yes, I'm back,
Well, I'm back, back,
Well, I'm back in black,
Yes, I'm back in black.

Back in the back,
Of a cadillac,
Number one with a bullet, I'm a power pack.
Yes, I'm in a bang,
With a gang,
They've got to catch me if they want me to hang.
Cause I'm back on the track,
And I'm beatin' the flack,
Nobody's gonna get me on another rap.
So look at me now,
I'm just makin' my play,
Don't try to push your luck, just get out of my way.

'Cause I'm back, yes I'm back,
Well, I'm back, yes I'm back,
Well, I'm back, back,
Well I'm back in black,
Yes I'm back in black.

Well I'm back, yes I'm back,
Well I'm back, yes I'm back,
Well I'm back, back,
Well, I'm back in black,
Yes, I'm back in black,
Ohooohooo YEAH!!
OH YEAH!!
Yes i know!
Aieeee Yeah!!
Yeah!!
Ohhhh YEAH, YEAH!!
Give it up!
Well I'm back, back,
Well I'm back, back,
Back, back,
Back in black,
Yes I'm back in black!!!!
Out of the sight!!