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I admire people who have a favorite poem, along with people who have memorized poems.
I had to memorize a poem in middle school. I chose The Spires of Oxford (found in a book from my mom's college days) and it's always stuck with me.
It's from WWI:
44. The Spires of Oxford
By Winifred M. Letts
I SAW the spires of Oxford
As I was passing by,
The gray spires of Oxford
Against the pearl-gray sky.
My heart was with the Oxford men 5
Who went abroad to die.
The years go fast in Oxford,
The golden years and gay,
The hoary Colleges look down
On careless boys at play. 10
But when the bugles sounded war
They put their games away.
They left the peaceful river,
The cricket-field, the quad,
The shaven lawns of Oxford, 15
To seek a bloody sod—
They gave their merry youth away
For country and for God.
God rest you, happy gentlemen,
Who laid your good lives down, 20
Who took the khaki and the gun
Instead of cap and gown.
God bring you to a fairer place
Than even Oxford town.
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