A.E. Housman
With rue my heart is laden
For golden friends I had
For many a rose lipt maiden
And many a light foot lad.
By brooks too broad for leaping
The light-foot boys are laid
The rose-lipt girls are sleeping
in fields where roses fade.
(This is the first poem I memorized. It’s also the one that inspired me to memorize poems in the first place. The Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen ) character in the movie Out of Africa refers to it at the end when she offers a toast (Light food Lads, Rose Lipt Girls) in the men’s club bar.
