Several of my favorite poems have all ready been listed here like High Flight. My favorite Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant about death is rather long so I'm not going to posted but I will post 2 others that I love - one sad, one funny with a view point.
Prayer For A Very New Angel by: Violet Alleyn Storey
God, God, be lenient her first night there.
The crib she slept in was so near my bed;
Her blue-and-white wool blanket was so soft,
Her pillow hollowed so to fit her head.
Teach me that she'll not want small rooms or me
When she had You and Heaven's immensity!
I always left a light out in the hall.
I hoped to make her fearless in the dark;
And yet, she was so small-one little light,
Not in the room, it scarcely mattered. Hark!
No, no; she seldom cried! God, not too far
For her to see, this first night, light a star!
And in the morning, when she first woke up,
I always kissed her on her left cheek where
The dimple was. And oh, I wet the brush,
It made it easier to curl her hair.
Just, just tomorrow morning, God, I pray,
When she wakes up, do things for her my way!
The Monkey's Viewpoint (author unknown)
Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree,
Discussin things as they're said to be.
Said one to the others: "Now listen you two;
There's a certain rumor that can't be true:
That man descends from our noble race.
The very idea! It's a dire disgrace!
No monkey ever deserted his wife.
Starved her baby and ruined her life.
And you've never know a mother monk;
To leave the babies with others to bunk;
Or pass them on from one to another
Till they scarcely know who is their mother.
And another thing: You'll never see
A monk build a fence 'round a coconut tree,
And let the coconuts go to waste,
Forbidding all other monks a taste
Why, if I put a fence around the tree,
Starvation would force you to steal from me.
Here's another thing a monk won't do
Go out at night and get on a stew;
Or use a gun or a club or knife
To take some other monkey's life.
Yes, man descended, the ornery cuss,
But, brothers, he didn't descend from us."
The first poem I always found sad but also so very sweet and loving. Now the second well it says a lot about us and how a strange visitor from another planet my view us.
