Favorite Poem or Song Lyric

For next week's class everybody is supposed to bring in their favorite poem or song lyric. Great, this should be fun and easy, was my first thought. But now, after a few moments of reflection, I find this task a difficult one. I have sooo many songs and poems that I adore. “I could no sooner choose a favorite star in the heavens.“ This quote, from one of my most cherished movies Ever After* from 1998, perfectly describes the way I feel about this assignment. It is impossible to pick and choose when you have sooo many wonderful masterpieces to select from.

   One aspect that makes this also very difficult is that I grew up bilingually. Therefore, approximately one half of the lyrics and poems I love is written in German and the other half is in English. For instance, two of the German poems I truly enjoy are Der Erlkönig by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and John Maynard by Theodor Fontane. I remember that we had to read and discuss these pieces of literary art when I was in middle school. Although I never had fun in my German classes, I really loved these teaching units in school.

   English poems and lyrics, that I love, are, for example, The night before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore or Hands by Jewel Kilcher. In addition to these two, I love almost every book for children by Dr. Seuss, who writes his works in a poetic kind of manner. Who is able to resist charming little Cindy Lou Who in the Christmas parable How The Grinch Stole Christmas!"?

   As you can see, I still have a lot of thinking to do, in order to not come empty-handed to class on Wednesday. :)


*In this movie Danielle, one of the main characters, made this comment when she had the opportunity to choose one book from a hundred of books in a Franciscan monastery.