Your Favorite Poems

[chocoholic]

Some old favourites:)

CROSSING THE BAR

by Lord Alfred Tennyson



Sunset and evening star,

And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar,

When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,

And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell,

When I embark;

For though from out our bourne of Time and Place

The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have crossed the bar.



Let Me Die a Youngman's Death by Roger McGough.

Let me die a youngman's death

not a clean and inbetween

the sheets holywater death

not a famous-last-words

peaceful out of breath death

When I'm 73

and in constant good tumour

may I be mown down at dawn

by a bright red sports car

on my way home

from an allnight party

Or when I'm 91

with silver hair

and sitting in a barber's chair

may rival gangsters

with hamfisted tommyguns burst in

and give me a short back and insides

Or when I'm 104

and banned from the Cavern

may my mistress

catching me in bed with her daughter

and fearing for her son

cut me up into little pieces

and throw away every piece but one

Let me die a youngman's death

not a free from sin tiptoe in

candle wax and waning death

not a curtains drawn by angels borne

'what a nice way to go' death

[Clodhopper]

Chocoholic: Crossing the Bar was written in Moult House, which is in Salcombe in the South Hams, right on the coast at the mouth of the estuary where than underwater sand bar runs across from the Moult to Limebury. In any sort of rough weather the seas break on the bar on a falling tide. It's beautiful place. (Sorry if you already knew that!)

[chocoholic]

Thank you CH, I wasn't aware of that, went to Salcombe many years ago and vaguely remember the harbour and estuary but not very well:)

[jones jones]

This is the last poem by this brilliant poet whose tragically short life ended soon thereafter ... he wrote this on board the ship taking him to Italy and he never again saw his beloved England ...

Bright Star by John Keats

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--

Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night

And watching, with eternal lids apart,

Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,

The moving waters at their priestlike task

Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,

Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask

Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--

No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,

Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,

To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,

Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,

Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,

And so live ever--or else swoon to death.

[Carolly]

Maybe not a poem in the true sense..........but words that so move me and are so true.

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.

When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.

They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support,

to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are.

They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,

this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.

Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.

Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.

What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done.

The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.................. .....

[kazalala]

Sorry this is a bit morose:o but still it touched me

Dirge Without Music





I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.

So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:

Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned

With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.

Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.

A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,

A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the

love,—

They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled

Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not

approve.

More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the

world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave

Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;

Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.

I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

[chocoholic]

kazalala;830397 wrote: Sorry this is a bit morose:o but still it touched me

Dirge Without Music





I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.

So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:

Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned

With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.

Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.

A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,

A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the

love,—

They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled

Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not

approve.

More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the

world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave

Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;

Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.

I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

Edna St. Vincent Millay


God, this is so weird, I was just going to post this poem, I read it today and it really connected to how I am right now, it sums up my feelings about losing my Mum and sister so well:(

[kazalala]

chocoholic;831352 wrote: God, this is so weird, I was just going to post this poem, I read it today and it really connected to how I am right now, it sums up my feelings about losing my Mum and sister so well:(


Aw, me too about a loved one i lost:-4 I know it wasnt that long ago for you,, hope you are having a good day today anyway:-4

[kazalala]

One Day





People will touch and talk perhaps easily,

And loving be natural as breathing,

And warm as sunlight;

And people will untie themselves,

As string is unknotted,

Unfold and yawn and stretch and spread

Their fingers;

Unfurl, uncurl, like seaweed returned

To the sea.

And work will be simple and swift

Like a seagull flying;

And play will be casual and quiet

Like a seagull sitting.

And the clocks will stop, and no - one

Will wonder or care or notice.

And people will smile without reason,

Even in the winter

Even in the rain.

A.S.J. Tessimond