Poetry please

I was watching BBC Breakfast this morning and they featured an article on poetry and what was the first poem you learnt as a child. Well my first poem wasn't a classic or one taht anyone will probably know. It was from a very old childrens book.

Archibauld William Vaughan

Wished he had never been born

I will tell you why with a simple reply

Just look how his britches are torn.

Enough to put me off poetry for ever but no quite the opposite in fact . After learning my first one I went on to learn lots more. In fact I love read and writing it.

One of my favourites He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by WB Yeats, was read in the film 84 Charing Cross by the velvet voiced Anthony Hopkins.

Another one I learnt by heart as a child was :

The Land of Counterpane by Robert Louis Stevenson

When I was sick and lay a-bed,

I had two pillows at my head,

And all my toys beside me lay

To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so I watched my leaden soldiers go,

With different uniforms and drills,

Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets

All up and down among the sheets;

Or brought my trees and houses out,

And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still

That sits upon the pillow-hill,

And sees before him, dale and plain,

The pleasant land of counterpane.

I like so many and always enjoy hearing new ones. I heard Pam Ayres reading one about her husband a few weeks ago and it made me laugh. I must look for a copy of her book.

What was the first poem you learnt, the one you like or does poetry just leave you cold?