Celebrate National Poetry Day by sharing your favourite poems with us for a chance to win a signed copy of A Great Big Cuddle plus a limited edition signed print for your DC's bedroom wall

My favorite poem is; From a Railway Carriage.
Faster than Faries,faster than witches,
Bridges and houses,hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle;
All of the sights of the hill and the plain,
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again,in the wink of an eye;
Painted stations whistled by.

there are fairies at the bottom of our garden - used to be read to me at bedtime

micheal Rosen has alwys been my favourite childrens poet and after 21 years as an infant teacher and older children with special needs for 2 years and even now with my 3 young grand-daughters our all-time favourite poem (read with much feeling) is THE CHOCOLTE POEM from the book Quick Lets Get Out Of Here!!! A fantastic book!!

I must go down to the sea again, it takes me back to my school days.

"Smile" by Anonymous.

Smiling is infectious
You catch it like the flu
When someone smiled at me today
I started smiling too

I walked around the corner
And someone saw me grin
When he smiled I realised
I had passed it on to him

I thought about the smile
And then realised its worth
A single smile like mine
Could travel round the earth

So if you feel a smile begin
Don't leave it undetected
Start an epidemic
And get the world infected.

One of my most loved poems is "Death Be Not Proud" by John Donne. The message of triumph over death comforts me when I think of loved ones I have lost.

I'd also like to offer up a particular reading of it: Richard Burton (hope the link works). His voice sends shivers down my spine; it's that inflection in "why swell'st thou then" that seems to pluck at my heart strings.

Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud
BY JOHN DONNE
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

Robert Frost

To keep your marriage brimming
full of love in the loving cup,
whenever you're wrong, admit it,
whenever you're right, shut up!

By Ogden Nash.

Wise words to live and love by!