HuffPost Readers, Hit It Home: Submit To Us A Poem That Inspires You During Hard Times

We spend a lot of time on the Living page focusing on all the different ways we can work on improving and bringing more meaning to our lives. And one of the oldest and most effective ways to do this is through art -- whether you're a veritable artiste or someone whose most famous work is still hanging on your parents refrigerator.

The best thing about art is that there's a genre for everyone; we've got a little bit of a soft spot here on Living for poetry. From the early days of the Living section, poetry has always been an important part -- starting with John Lundberg (see archive) who's remarkable ability to link poetry to current events has kept us constantly inspired, to Elizabeth Alexander, Obama's inaugural poet.

(Speaking of which, tomorrow night the Huffington Post is hosting Elizabeth Alexander at Arianna's home. We'll be sure to give you plenty of updates!)

But most of all, art - and poetry in particular - has a way of uplifting us, particularly during darker days. And we want to know which poems and/or poets do that for you? Is there a favorite poem you turn to when you need cheering up? Please let us know in the comments! We'll pull them together and share them with all of our readers on a later date -- everyone could use a little poetic love now and then.

And feel free to check out John Lundberg's posts if you're looking for some inspiration.

Comments

[Singwell]

i thank you God for most this amazing by E. E. Cummings
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
wich is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

[Blutus]

Stones in My Passway
©(1978) 1990, 1991 Lehsem II, LLC/Claud L. Johnson
Administered by Music & Media International, Inc.

I got stones in my passway
and all my roads seem dark at night
I got stones in my passway
and all my roads seem dark at night
I have pains in my heart
they have taken my appetite
I have a bird to whistle
I have a bird to sing
Have a bird to whistle
and I have a bird to sing
I have a woman that I'm lovin
boy, but she don't mean a thing
My enemies have betrayed me
have overtaken poor Bob at last
My enemies have betrayed me
have overtaken poor Bob at last
And 'eres one thing certainly
they have stones all in my pass
Now you tryin to take my life
and all my lovin too
You laid a passway for me
now what are you tryin to do
I'm cryin please
please let us be friends
And when you hear me howlin in my passway rider
ple-ease open your door and let me in
I've got three legs to truck home
boys please don't block my road
I've got three legs to truck home
boys please don't block my road
I've been fellin ashamed about my rider
babe, I'm booked and I got to go

Robert Johnson

[JerseyBob]

Robert Service wrote a poem about a wounded WWI soldier visited by a general. I have a hard time reading it without tearing up. WWI, Iraq and many other wars inflict such horror. An uplifting Poem? Rather a poem that will have you thinking less of your own problems

Grand-pere

And so when he reached my bed
The General made stand:
“My brave young fellow,” he said
“I would shake your hand.”

So I lifted my arm, the right,
With never a hand at all;
Only a stump, a sight
Fit to appall.

“Well, well. Now that’s too bad!
That sorrowful luck,” he said;
“But there! You give me, my lad,
The left instead.”

So from under blanket’s rim
I raised and showed him the other,
A snag as ugly and grim
As his ugly brother.

He looked at each jagged wrist;
He looked, but he did not speak;
And then he bent down and kissed
Me on either cheek.

You wonder now I don’t mind
I hadn’t a hand to offer....
They tell me (you know I’m blind)
‘Twas Grand-pere Joffre.

"You wonder now I don't mind I hadn't a hand to offer....." said the brave lad. By comparison; it's always by comparison, -have we so much to complain about? Such a great need to be "uplifted"?

[Blutus]

My Madonna
Robert Service
I haled me a woman from the street,
Shameless, but, oh, so fair!
I bade her sit in the model’s seat
And I painted her sitting there.

I hid all trace of her heart unclean;
I painted a babe at her breast;
I painted her as she might have been
If the Worst had been the Best.

She laughed at my picture and went away.
Then came, with a knowing nod,
A connoisseur, and I heard him say;
“’Tis Mary, the Mother of God.”

So I painted a halo round her hair,
And I sold her and took my fee,
And she hangs in the church of Saint Hillaire,
Where you and all may see.


My father would read and recite Robert Service
when we lived in Alaska.
This was one of his favorites.

[meltingpot101]

Happy Birthday today, my deceased Daddy
Mom has joined you, I report sadly
I haven't seen you for so long,
It's been a long 25 years
Your lessons and love I carry on
Your shout out I posted here
Just wanted to say "Thank You" for life itself
I am not well traveled nor have I aquired great wealth
I'm all grown up now Daddy, a family of my own
A sometimes too noisy house that I call home
I am Fortunate. I am Grateful.
As your Angel eyes watch over us, Thank You.

[TheBlackCat]

Early in the morning, risin' to the street
Light me up that cigarette, and I strap shoes on my feet
Got to find a reason, a reason things went wrong
Got to find a reason why my money's all gone

But I got a dalmatian, I can still get high
I can play the guitar like a mother f***ing riot

Life is too short, so love the one you got
cause you might get run over, or you might get shot

Never start no static
I just get it off my chest
Never had to battle with no bulletproof vest
Take a small example
A tip from me
Take all of your money and give it up to charity

Loving is what I got

-Sublime

[TheBlackCat]

Gamble everything for love,
If you are a true human being

If not, leave
this gathering

Half heartedness doesn't reach
into majesty. You set out
to find God, but then you keep

stopping for long periods
at meanspirited roadhouses
-Rumi

[Kungfublood]

There was an old Taoist that lived in a tree.
I wish that old Taoist were me.

[Smittie500]

Woods

I part the out thrusting branches
and come in beneath
the blessed and the blessing trees.
Though I am silent
there is singing around me.
Though I am dark
there is vision around me.
Though I am heavy
there is flight around me.

-Wendell Berry

[4gloria]

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

Bob Dylan

[TheBlackCat]

Great one. I LOVED that they used this song for the Watchmen opening sequence

[earnandsave]

No More 'Smalling Up' of Me

No more meekly saying yes
when my heart is screaming no
No more taming of my feelings
so my power won't show
No more hiding my exuberance
from disapproving eyes
No more watering down myself
so my spirit won't rise

No more 'smalling up' of me
pretending I'm not here
No more running from the music
and the spotlight's glare
No more living in this prison
barricaded by my fears
No more turning and retreating
in the face of new frontiers.

Even as I am speaking
I am taking shape and form
harnessing my powers
like a gathering storm
There's no obstacle so bold
as to dare stand in my way
I am taking back my life
and I am doing it today.

By Jean Wilson

[GhostwriterDoF]

Another poem of my own that comforts me when things look bleak. This is one for the road, so to speak...

Crossroads

As I travel down the path of life,
I reflect upon the past and wonder,
if the future holds such pain and love,
and matters of the heart to ponder.

In life there is no certainty,
the unexpected never ending.
When faced by a choice of direction,
there can be no relenting.

For I am again at a crossroads,
each one more complex than the other,
my heart may say to take this way,
but my mind may choose another.

P.G. Rose

[sumanne]

Résumé


Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.

Dorothy Parker

[pickwickianmom]

Oh, my. Dorothy Parker's poetry was crucial in helping me get through my divorce.

[4gloria]

I love DP! Thanks for posting

[treesnakes]

Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water
is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?
Tao Te Ching

[ifihadahammer]

From Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet" (Best book ever!)

"You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief, but rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.

And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?

In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.

And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?"

[ifihadahammer]

I choose this passage from the chapter on "Freedom" because when I'm feeling overwhelmed by my situation, it reminds me that I fastened the chains and I hold the key.

Sorry I couldn't provide full text (too long) but here's a link to the entire book online:

http://leb.net/~mira/works/prophet/prophet.html

[Russ Golata]

The Interrupted Concert By Frederico Garcia Lorca

The frozen sleepy pause
of the half moon
has broken the harmony
of the deep night.

The ditches, shrouded in sedge,
protest the silence,
and the frogs, muezzins of shadow,
have fallen silent.

In the old village inn
the sad music has ceased,
and the most ancient of stars
has muted its ray.

The wind has come to rest
in dark mountain caves,
and a solitary poplar-Pythagoras
of the pure plain-
lifts its aged hand
to strike the moon


El Concierto Interrumpido

Ha roto la armonia
de la noche profunda
el calderon helado y sonoliento
de la media luna.

Las acequias protestan sordemante
arropadas con juncias,
y ha ranas, muecines de la sombra,
se han quedado mudas.

en la vieja taberna del problado
ceso la triste musica,
y ha puesto la sordina a su ariston
la estrella mas antigua.

El viento se ha sentado en los torcales
de la montana oscura
y un chopa solitaro- el Pitagoras
de la casta Ilanura--
quier dar con su mano centenaria,
un cachete a la luna