# What is your favorite poem?



## Chay (Apr 1, 2010)

My favorite poem is "The Calf Path" 
by Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911)

One day, through the primeval wood,
A calf walked home, as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail, as all calves do.

Since then three hundred years have fled,
And, I infer, the calf is dead.
But still he left behind his trail,
And thereby hangs my moral tale.

The trail was taken up next day
By a lone dog that passed that way;
And then a wise bellwether sheep
Pursued the trail o’er vale and steep,
And drew the flock behind him, too,
As good bellwethers always do.

And from that day, o’er hill and glade,
Through those old woods a path was made,
And many men wound in and out,
And dodged and turned and bent about,
And uttered words of righteous wrath
Because ’twas such a crooked path;
But still they followed — do not laugh —
The first migrations of that calf,
And through this winding wood-way stalked
Because he wobbled when he walked.

This forest path became a lane,
That bent, and turned, and turned again.
This crooked lane became a road,
Where many a poor horse with his load
Toiled on beneath the burning sun,
And traveled some three miles in one.
And thus a century and a half
They trod the footsteps of that calf.

The years passed on in swiftness fleet.
The road became a village street,
And this, before men were aware,
A city’s crowded thoroughfare,
And soon the central street was this
Of a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half
Trod in the footsteps of that calf.

Each day a hundred thousand rout
Followed that zigzag calf about,
And o’er his crooked journey went
The traffic of a continent.
A hundred thousand men were led
By one calf near three centuries dead.
They follow still his crooked way,
And lose one hundred years a day,
For thus such reverence is lent
To well-established precedent.

A moral lesson this might teach
Were I ordained and called to preach;
For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf-paths of the mind,
And work away from sun to sun
To do what other men have done.
They follow in the beaten track,
And out and in, and forth and back,
And still their devious course pursue,
To keep the path that others do.

They keep the path a sacred groove,
Along which all their lives they move;
But how the wise old wood-gods laugh,
Who saw the first primeval calf!
Ah, many things this tale might teach —
But I am not ordained to preach.


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## xyxoxy (Apr 1, 2010)

That poem makes me think of Robert Frost who is one of my favorites. He's probably most famous for "Stopping by woods on a snowy evening".
But the one that always comes to my mind is...

_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. _

Simple, elegant.


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## Deda (Apr 1, 2010)

Ya'll are way to classy for me, when I saw the title this popped into my head:

Oh, Susan Blue
How do you do?
May I go for a walk with you?
Where shall we go?
I know!
Down to the meadow
Where the green grass grows.

Don't judge.


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## IanT (Apr 2, 2010)

Oohhhh there are so many ... let me think on this for a moment


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## Tabitha (Apr 2, 2010)

Anything by ee cummings

Here are a few:
=============================================

!blac... (1) by E. E. Cummings


!blac
k
agains
t

(whi)

te sky
?t
rees whic
h fr

om droppe

d
,
le
af

a:;go

e
s wh
IrlI
n

.g 
==============================================

1(a... (a leaf falls on loneliness) by E. E. Cummings
1(a

le
af
fa
ll

s)
one
l

iness 
=============================================


dying is fine)but Death

?o
baby
i

wouldn't like

Death if Death
were
good:for

when(instead of stopping to think)you

begin to feel of it,dying
's miraculous
why?be

cause dying is

perfectly natural;perfectly
putting
it mildly lively(but

Death

is strictly
scientific
& artificial &

evil & legal)

we thank thee
god
almighty for dying
(forgive us,o life!the sin of Death


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## krissy (Apr 18, 2010)

my all time favorite

* The Highwayman*

                                        PART ONE

                                                 I

    THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, 
    The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, 
    The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, 
    And the highwayman came riding— 
                      Riding—riding— 
    The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

                                                 II

    He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin, 
    A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin; 
    They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh! 
    And he rode with a jewelled twinkle, 
                      His pistol butts a-twinkle, 
    His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.

                                                 III

    Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard, 
    And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred; 
    He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there 
    But the landlord's black-eyed daughter, 
                      Bess, the landlord's daughter, 
    Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

                                                 IV

    And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked 
    Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked; 
    His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay, 
    But he loved the landlord's daughter, 
                      The landlord's red-lipped daughter, 
    Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—

                                                 V

    "One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night, 
    But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light; 
    Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day, 
    Then look for me by moonlight, 
                      Watch for me by moonlight, 
    I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."

                                                 VI

    He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand, 
    But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand 
    As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast; 
    And he kissed its waves in the moonlight, 
                      (Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!) 
    Then he tugged at his rein in the moonliglt, and galloped away to the West.



                                        PART TWO

                                                 I

    He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon; 
    And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon, 
    When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor, 
    A red-coat troop came marching— 
                      Marching—marching— 
    King George's men came matching, up to the old inn-door.

                                                 II

    They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead, 
    But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed; 
    Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side! 
    There was death at every window; 
                      And hell at one dark window; 
    For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.

                                                 III

    They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest; 
    They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast! 
    "Now, keep good watch!" and they kissed her. 
                      She heard the dead man say— 
    Look for me by moonlight; 
                      Watch for me by moonlight; 
    I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!

                                                 IV

    She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good! 
    She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood! 
    They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years, 
    Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, 
                      Cold, on the stroke of midnight, 
    The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

                                                 V

    The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest! 
    Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast, 
    She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again; 
    For the road lay bare in the moonlight; 
                      Blank and bare in the moonlight; 
    And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain .

                                                 VI

        Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear; 
    Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear? 
    Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill, 
    The highwayman came riding, 
                      Riding, riding! 
    The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!

                                                 VII

    Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night! 
    Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light! 
    Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath, 
    Then her finger moved in the moonlight, 
                      Her musket shattered the moonlight, 
    Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.

                                                 VIII

    He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood 
    Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood! 
    Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear 
    How Bess, the landlord's daughter, 
                      The landlord's black-eyed daughter, 
    Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

                                                 IX

    Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky, 
    With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high! 
    Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat, 
    When they shot him down on the highway, 
                      Down like a dog on the highway, 
    And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.

                  *           *           *           *           *           *

                                                 X

    And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees, 
    When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, 
    When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, 
    A highwayman comes riding— 
                      Riding—riding— 
    A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

                                                 XI

    Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard; 
    He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred; 
    He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there 
    But the landlord's black-eyed daughter, 
                      Bess, the landlord's daughter, 
    Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.


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## Chay (Apr 18, 2010)

Krissy, that one gives me chill bumps.


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## xyxoxy (Apr 18, 2010)

Loreena McKennitt has a version of that in song. It is haunting and sad.


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## southernheartsoaps (Jun 10, 2010)

September

The goldenrod is yellow
The corn is turning brown
The trees in the apple orchard
With fruit are bending down

The gentian's bluest fringes 
Are curling in the sun
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow nook
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook

In dewy lanes at morning
The grapes sweet odors rise
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here
With summer's best of weather
And autumn's best of cheer

(my mom quoted this to us kids EVERY September 1st ever since I can remember... she passed away in September 2008... the last time I talked to her on the phone was when she called me to quote this poem... I quote it to my kids now... I sure miss her!)


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## PrairieCraft (Jan 24, 2011)

Thomas Moore

The Last Rose of Summer

'Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
To give sigh for sigh.
I'll not leave thee, thou lone one!
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter,
Thy leaves o'er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.
So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
From Love's shining circle
The gems drop away.
When true hearts lie withered
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit,
This bleak world alone?


Love this thread!


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## turnedlight (Jan 26, 2011)

Wow, what beautiful poems   I confess I don't have a good memory for them, though my Grandfather use to reel them off - the rime of the ancient mariner and such. 
When I saw the title of this thread I though of Spike Milligan -


There are holes in the sky where the rain gets in 
But they're ever so small 
That's why rain is thin.


I always liked that one


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