Words to live by…Most Memorable Poems

Mary CongerLTEC 3220 1

2

Most Memorable Poems

Mary Conger LTEC 3220

Home

Mary Conger LTEC 3220 3

Spring…A Prayer in Spring

by Robert FrostOH, give us pleasure in the flowers today;And give us not to think so far awayAs the uncertain harvest; keep us hereAll simply in the springing of the year.Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;And make us happy in the happy bees,The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.And make us happy in the darting birdThat suddenly above the bees is heard,The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,And off a blossom in mid air stands still.For this is love and nothing else is love,To which it is reserved for God aboveTo sanctify to what far ends he will,But which it only needs that we fulfill.

Summer…

Mary Conger LTEC 3220 4

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18) by William ShakespeareShall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date.Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Fall…

Mary Conger LTEC 3220 5

'Fall, leaves, fall' by Emily BronteFall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;Lengthen night and shorten day;Every leaf speaks bliss to meFluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snowBlossom where the rose should grow;I shall sing when night's decayUshers in a drearier day.

Winter…

Mary Conger LTEC 3220 6

The Winters are so short by Emily DickinsonThe Winters are so short --I'm hardly justifiedIn sending all the Birds away --And moving into Pod --Myself -- for scarcely settled --The Phoebes have begun --And then -- it's time to strike my Tent --And open House -- again --It's mostly, interruptions --My Summer -- is despoiled --Because there was a Winter -- once --And al the Cattle -- starved --And so there was a Deluge --And swept the World away --But Ararat's a Legend -- now --And no one credits Noah --

Love…

Mary Conger LTEC 3220

Love's Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,The winds of Heaven mix for everWith a sweet emotion;Nothing in the world is single,All things by a law divineIn one spirit meet and mingle - Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high HeavenAnd the waves clasp one another;No sister-flower would be forgivenIf it disdained its brother;And the sunlight clasps the earth,And the moonbeams kiss the sea - What are all these kissings worthIf thou kiss not me?

7

Life…

Mary Conger LTEC 3220 8

What Is Life? by John ClareAnd what is Life? An hour-glass on the run,A mist retreating from the morning sun,A busy, bustling, still-repeated dream.Its length? A minute's pause, a moment's thought.And Happiness? A bubble on the stream,That in the act of seizing shrinks to nought.

And what is Hope? The puffing gale of morn,That of its charms divests the dewy lawn,And robs each flow'ret of its gem—and dies;A cobweb, hiding disappointment's thorn,Which stings more keenly through the thin disguise.

And what is Death? Is still the cause unfound?That dark mysterious name of horrid sound?A long and lingering sleep the weary crave.And Peace? Where can its happiness abound?Nowhere at all, save heaven and the grave.

Then what is Life? When stripped of its disguise,A thing to be desired it cannot be;Since everything that meets our foolish eyesGives proof sufficient of its vanity.'Tis but a trial all must undergo,To teach unthankful mortals how to prizeThat happiness vain man's denied to know,Until he's called to claim it in the skies.

Live…

Mary Conger LTEC 3220 9

A Farewell by Charles KingsleyMy fairest child, I have no song to give you; No lark could pipe to skies so dull and grey: Yet, ere we part, one lesson I can leave you For every day. Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever; Do noble things, not dream them, all day long: And so make life, death, and that vast for-ever One grand, sweet song.

Enjoy…

Mary Conger LTEC 3220 10

Roses by George EliotYou love the roses - so do I. I wishThe sky would rain down roses, as they rainFrom off the shaken bush. Why will it not?Then all the valley would be pink and whiteAnd soft to tread on. They would fall as lightAs feathers, smelling sweet; and it would beLike sleeping and like waking, all at once!

Memories…

Mary Conger LTEC 3220 11

To Memory by Mary Elizabeth ColeridgeStrange Power, I know not what thou art, Murderer or mistress of my heart. I know I'd rather meet the blow Of my most unrelenting foe Than live---as now I live---to be Slain twenty times a day by thee.

Yet, when I would command thee hence, Thou mockest at the vain pretence, Murmuring in mine ear a song Once loved, alas! forgotten long; And on my brow I feel a kiss That I would rather die than miss.

Tears…

Mary Conger LTEC 3220 12

Tears by Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTHANK God, bless God, all ye who suffer notMore grief than ye can weep for. That is well--That is light grieving ! lighter, none befellSince Adam forfeited the primal lot.Tears ! what are tears ? The babe weeps in its cot,The mother singing, at her marriage-bellThe bride weeps, and before the oracleOf high-faned hills the poet has forgotSuch moisture on his cheeks. Thank God for grace,Ye who weep only ! If, as some have done,Ye grope tear-blinded in a desert placeAnd touch but tombs,--look up I those tears will runSoon in long rivers down the lifted face,And leave the vision clear for stars and sun

Mary Conger LTEC 3220 13

Laugh…Laughing Song by William BlakeWhen the green woods laugh with the voice of joyAnd the dimpling stream runs laughing by,When the air does laugh with our merry wit,And the green hill laughs with the noise of it.When the meadows laugh with lively greenAnd the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene.When Mary and Susan and Emily.With their sweet round mouths sing Ha, Ha, He.When the painted birds laugh in the shadeWhere our table with cherries and nuts is spreadCome live & be merry and join with me,To sing the sweet chorus of Ha, Ha, He.

Dreams…

Mary Conger LTEC 3220 14

The Land Of Dreams by William Blake

Awake, awake my little Boy!Thou wast thy Mother's only joy:Why dost thou weep in thy gentle sleep?Awake! thy Father does thee keep."O, what land is the Land of Dreams?What are its mountains, and what are its streams?O Father, I saw my Mother there,Among the lilies by waters fair.Among the lambs clothed in whiteShe walked with her Thomas in sweet delight.I wept for joy, like a dove I mourn— O when shall I return again?"Dear child, I also by pleasant streamsHave wandered all night in the Land of Dreams;But though calm and warm the waters wide,I could not get to the other side."Father, O Father, what do we here,In this land of unbelief and fear?The Land of Dreams is better farAbove the light of the Morning Star."

Embrace…

Mary Conger LTEC 3220 15

serenade

sweet

Oh, For The Time When I Shall Sleep by Emily BronteOh, for the time when I shall sleepWithout identity,And never care how rain may steep,Or snow may cover me!No promised heaven these wild desiresCould all, or half, fulfill;No threatened hell, with quenchless fires,Subdue this quenchless will!So said I, and still say the same;Still, to my death, will say— Three gods within this little frameAre warring night and day:Heaven could not hold them all, and yetThey all are held in me;And must be mine till I forgetMy present entity!Oh, for the time when in my breastTheir struggles will be o'er!Oh, for the day when I shall rest,And never suffer more!