Lines from your favorite poem

[SCFinfan]

If you read poetry, pick your favorite chunk of one of your favorites and post it below for all of us to enjoy.

Two of mine:

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

Rudyard Kipling, Gods of the Copybook Headings

 - and -

"Neither by speed, nor strength could He prevail.
 Each hand and foot was pinioned by a nail.
 He could not run or clasp me if He tried,
 But with His eye, He bade me reach His side.
"For pity's sake, thought I, I'll set you free.
 'Nay -- take this cross,' He said, 'and follow me.[']

I don't know the author or title of that one.

[Buddhagirl]

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. "

Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods

I think all runners love this.

[Sunstroke]

"And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted- nevermore!"

Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven


"Once in a dream, I stood a tree
And as a tree, I dreamt of hunger.
Weren't the rains more plentiful
When I was but ten rings younger?"

Sun Stevens, Ring of Truth 

[bsmooth]

If you read poetry, pick your favorite chunk of one of your favorites and post it below for all of us to enjoy.

Two of mine:

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

Rudyard Kipling, Gods of the Copybook Headings

 - and -

"Neither by speed, nor strength could He prevail.
 Each hand and foot was pinioned by a nail.
 He could not run or clasp me if He tried,
 But with His eye, He bade me reach His side.
"For pity's sake, thought I, I'll set you free.
 'Nay -- take this cross,' He said, 'and follow me.[']

I don't know the author or title of that one.

http://books.google.com/books?id=UDKe82hZAUYC&pg=PA182&lpg=PA182&dq

[bsmooth]

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

       The Young British Soldier


Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
    Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
    But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
    The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
    O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

  "Tommy"

Both by Kipling.

[Tenshot13]

There once was a man from Nantucket...

[Sunstroke]

There once was a man from Nantucket...

Nice!  I contemplated coming in with "I never saw a purple cow..."

[Landshark]

In cabin'd ships at sea,
The boundless blue on every side expanding,
With whistling winds and music of the waves, the large imperious waves,
Or some lone bark buoy'd on the dense marine,
Where joyous full of faith, spreading white sails,
She cleaves the ether mid the sparkle and the foam of day, or under
many a star at night,
By sailors young and old haply will I, a reminiscence of the land, be read,
In full rapport at last.

~ Walt Whitman