Poems

Here are some poems that I like.

This one's by my favourite German poet Heinrich Heine. His poems revolve around the theme of unrequited love and many composers (esp Schumann and Schubert) have set his poems to music.

I like this poem for its utter simplicity:

You are like a flower
So lovely, pure and fair;
I gaze upon your face
And sadness steals into my heart.

I fain would lay my hands
In blessing on your brow,
Praying that God will keep you,
So lovely, pure and fair.

The next one is by Christina Rossetti. I remember when I was in JC and I asked my GP tutor to recommend some nice poems for me to read, and this is the one she gave me. It's another poem tinged with sadness and quiet melancholy.

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

The last one is a called A Reminiscence by Anne Bronte (Charlotte 'Jane Eyre' Bronte's sis). This is a famous poem about death, and it's often recited at funerals. I remember this sad incident during my JC days when 2 girls drowned during an OBS trip. This poem appeared in our year book, as a kind of tribute to them. It is really quite touching -- a poignant eulogy for the loss of a young life.

Yes, thou art gone! and never more
Thy sunny smile shall gladden me;
But I may pass the old church door
And pace the floor that covers thee;

May stand upon the cold, damp stone
And think that frozen lies below
The lightest heart that I have known,
The kindest I shall ever know.

Yet though I cannot see thee more
'Tis still a comfort to have seen,
And though thy transient life is o'er'
Tis sweet to think that thou hast been;

To think a soul so near divine
Within a form so angel fair
United to a heart like thine
Has gladdened once our humble sphere.