My Favorite Poems

The title speaks for itself. Enjoy!

Rapt in a Revery by Henry David Thoreau


I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in a revery, amidst the pines and hickories and sumachs, in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the birds sing around or flitted noiseless through the house, until by the sun falling in at my west window, or the noise of some traveller's wagon on the distant roadway, I was reminded of the lapse of time.


We can never have enough of Nature.


Oranges by Gary Soto


The first time I walked
With a girl I was twelve,
Cold, and weighted down
With two oranges in my jacket.
December. Frost cracking
Beneath my steps, my breath
Before me, then gone,
As I walked toward
Her house, the one whose
Porch light burned yellow
Night and day, in any weather,
A dog barked at me, until
She came out pulling
At her gloves, face bright
With rouge. I smiled,
touched her shoulder, and led
Her down the street, across
A used car lot and a line
Of newly planted trees,
Until we were breathing
Before a drugstore. We
Entered, the tiny bell
Bringing a saleslady
Down a narrow aisle of goods.
I turned to the candies
Tiered like bleachers, 
And asked what she wanted.
Light in her eyes, a smile
Starting at the corners
Of her mouth. I fingered
A nickel in my pocket,
And when she lifted a chocolate
That cost a dime,
I didn't say anything.
I took the nickel from
My pocket, then an orange
And set them down quietly on
the counter. When I looked up,
the lady's eyes met mine,
And held them, knowing
Very well what it was all
About.
Outside,
A few cars hissing past,
Fog hanging like old
Coats between the trees.
I took my girl's hand
In mine for two blocks,
Then released it to let
Her unwrap the chocolate.
I peeled my orange
That was so bright against
The gray of December
That, from some distance,
Someone might have thought
I was making a fire in my hands.


Leap Before You Look by W.H. Auden


The sense of danger must not disappear:
The way is certainly both short and steep,
However gradual it looks from here;
Look if you like, but you will have to leap


Tough-minded men get mushy in their sleep
And break the by-laws any fool can keep;
It is not the convention but the fear
That has the tendency to disappear.


The worried efforts of the busy heap
the dirt, the imprecision, and the beer
Produce a few smart wisecracks every year;
Laugh if you can, but you will have to leap.


The clothes that are considered right to wear
Will not be either sensible or cheap,
So long as we consent to live like sheep
And never mention those who disappear.


Much can be said for social savoir-faire,
But to rejoice when no one else is there
Is even harder than it is to weep;
No one is watching, but you have to leap.


A solitude ten thousand fathoms deep
Sustains the bed on which we lie, my dear;
Although I love you, you will have to leap;
Our dream of safety has to disappear.


Gone From My Sight by Henry Van Dyke


I am standing upon the seashore. A ship
spreads her white sails to the ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until at length she
hangs like a speck of white cloud just
where the sea and sky come to mingle
with each other.


Then someone at my side says:
"There, she is gone!"


"Gone where?"


Gone from my sight. That is all.


her diminished size is in me, not in her. 
And just at the moment when someone
at my side says: "There, she is gone!"
there are other eyes watching her
coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:


"Here she comes!"


And that is dying.






So those are the poems that I have so far. I may come up with more in the future. I would like to thank my 6th and 7th grade English teachers for showing our class some poetry. I have always loved poetry and the many depths behind the words that are written.