In honor of National Poetry Month, we'd love to know your favorite poem!

Mine is Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

:::sigh::: It gets me every time....

hi, beliefnet entertainment... is that your god-given name?

i remember the poetry in motion series well!  it used to be great during the commute to zone out and get lost in poetry on a rumbling train or bus.  

am going to google poetry in motion and see what i turn up.

thanks for sharing.  i will have to give this thread considerable thought b/c it is hard to narrow it down to one favorite... but i shall take the challenge seriously and play it as if it were the what if game, as in : WHAT IF YOU COULD ONLY READ AND REREAD ONE POEM EVERYDAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE? ( i like high stakes).

take care.

m22

Thanks for the reminder about Poetry in Motion and the link.  I fell in love with a poem on the subway about 10 years ago and had forgotten about it completely.  I'm now off to peruse the site and see if I can find it again!

Hi all, Im a newbee to the site and I thought this was a good place to start.  I couldn't decide between two, but finally chose this one.

I do not love you as if you were a salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the flower shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way than this:

where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Sarahm~

i love the poetry of pablo neruda- had to study him extensively in college (spanish major) thanks for sharing!

...hmmm can't say that i know gene gene made a machine, tho.