Poetry Appreciation (do NOT post your own poetry)

Untitled

I finally believed in the good in people
When the homeless man at the train
Showed me where he kept his pennies -
In a row on the ledge,
One after the other,
A careful cluster of value.
He leans in,
"For the less fortunate. I like to
Leave them something."

His grin is broken and discoloured and
Absolutely perfect.

-Unknown

 

SUICIDE IN THE TRENCHES
By Siegfried Sassoon, 1917

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

 

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?

 

let it go – the
e.e. cummings

let it go – the
smashed word broken
open vow or
the oath cracked length
wise – let it go it
was sworn to
go

let them go – the
truthful liars and
the false fair friends
and the boths and
neithers – you must let them go they
were born
to go

let all go – the
big small middling
tall bigger really
the biggest and all
things – let all go
dear

so comes love

 

May I Go Now?

May I go now?
Do you think the time is right?
May I say goodbye to pain filled days
And endless lonely nights?

I've lived my life and done my best,
An example tried to be.
So can I take that step beyond
And set my spirit free?

I didn't want to go at first,
I fought with all my might.
But something seems to draw me now
To a warm and living light.

I want to go I really do.
It's difficult to stay.
But I will try as best I can
To live just one more day.

To give you time to care for me
And share your love and fears.
I know you're sad and afraid,
Because I see your tears.

I'll not be far, I promise that,
And hope you'll always know
That my spirit will be close to you
Wherever you may go.

Thank you so for loving me.
You know I love you too,
That's why it's hard to say goodbye
And end this life with you.

So hold me now just one more time
And let me hear you say,
Because you care so much for me,
You'll let me go today.

~Susan A. Jackson

 

'All that is gold does not glitter'

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

J.R.R. Tolkien