Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

This poem is so sad. What I take from it is that eveybody dies, and it's natural and will not be that bad. Death is not terrible, but we still have to fear it and be angry at dying, because that's what being alive is all about.

A Question

A voice said, Look me in the stars
And tell me truly, men of earth,
If all the soul-and-body scars
Were not too much to pay for birth.

Robert Frost

I know this one; it's pretty short. It's so beautiful though, and completely true.
I wrote a poem on wattpad, heavily inspired by this, and the poem, 'Nothing Gold Can Stay':

Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's 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.

Robert Frost

I think this one is absolutely beautiful, but so sad. I want to learn it.

I love Robert Frost's poems, they're so beautiful. But I think the two most famous ones, 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' and 'The Road Not Taken' are a bit overrated. They're good, but I far prefer the two above, they speak to me so much more.

Sea-Fever

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

John Masefield

For me, the sea means adventure, and holidays, and rocks and waves and shoals of fish. Oh, and lots of pirates.
I don't know this one, but I plan to learn it.
This summer, I'm going on holiday to an island. It's small and cold and wet, but it has the sea <3

Her Strong Enchantments Failing

Her strong enchantments failing,
Her towers of fear in wreck,
Her limbecks dried of poisons
And the knife at her neck,

The Queen of air and darkness
Begins to shrill and cry,
`O young man, O my slayer
To-morrow you shall die.'

O Queen of air and darkness
I think 'tis truth you say,
And I shall die to-morrow;
But you shall die to-day.

-Alfred Edward Housman

I've learnt this one too. I'm good at this =)
It a really nice poem, that sounds like a really epic story just finished, with many struggles and dilemmas and a nice heroic sacrifice type thing. It's a bit jarring how the magic woman is killed by a man with a knife, but that's probably not the intention.

The Arrow and the Song

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This is a brilliant poem I decided to learn. I made it easier by setting it to music.
This is a blog I've set up for my favourite poems / jokes / quotes / sayings / thoughts. Be warned, very little will be original.
For my original writings, click here and go to my wattpad account.