1. Love and Friendship By Emily Bronte
This poem will get you through times of trouble with a reminder that friendship is a blessing. This is one of my favorite poems in the world for its simplicity and its poignancy. There is a character of serenity though that will carry you through times of broken hearts and or broken ties. This is a poem that will love you like a true friend. Here is an excerpt:
"Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree—
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?"
2. Exaltation Is The Going By Emily Dickinson
This poem makes me want to live again. It makes me want to find exaltation in the sea. To find life in the troubles or the strange occurrences that are so far removed from everyday life that they shine bright like a lighthouse in a stormy night.
"Exultation is the going
Of an inland soul to sea,
Past the houses—past the headlands—
Into deep Eternity—
Bred as we, among the mountains,
Can the sailor understand
The divine intoxication
Of the first league out from land?”
3. [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] By E.E. Cummings
This is a love poem. E.E. Cummings wrote for someone he loved- the words hold such tenderness that that same tenderness transcends the original audience to rest upon the reader’s shoulders. This poem will make you feel part of something so wonderful that nothing can be quite as sour afterwards.
“...here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)”
4. Things I Didn’t Know I Loved By Nazim Hikmet
This poem connects to my heart on a spiritual level. This is a poem that can carry you from captivity, to hesitant freedom, to an awed appreciation for life. For me personally this poem gives so much in terms of teaching what love is and how love is not needed to be directed towards another human to be real.
“I didn't know I loved the earth
can someone who hasn't worked the earth love it
I've never worked the earth
it must be my only Platonic love”
5. Alone By Maya Angelou
This is a poem for anyone who has ever felt alone. There is a reason this is one of Angelou’s most popular poems. Its message resonates across generations and identities and the human race as a whole. It is an acknowledgement that life is not meant to be lived alone and that humans are not meant to weather the harshness of the world alone. This poem says to me it’s okay to reach out and it’s okay to ask for help. Read the full poem to get through the times when you feel alone.
“Now if you listen closely
I'll tell you what I know
Storm clouds are gathering
The wind is gonna blow
The race of man is suffering
And I can hear the moan,
'Cause nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.”
6. Do not go gentle into that good night By Dylan Thomas
On the darkest of nights this poem is a reminder. A reminder to not let life go. To hold on to it because it is lovely, and powerful, and painful, and hard. Though death and night will come, grasp tight to the treasure of life. Rage with a passion for vibrancy and truth. Rage for good poetry. Rage against the dying of the light.
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
