Favourite Verse

I have read every poem in this book.
I would open the book at any page
And read whichever poem was shorter
Or appeared easier to comprehend

The book was organised by theme, not author.
So I soon learned which sections I liked best;
At the beginning was Love, then Nature.
But I would always turn towards the end.

For there lived Contemplation, Time and Death.
Somehow I gravitated to the best,
Judging by the titles, the dates and topics,
Structure and Form, in time by the author

Eventually I decided to read
Every last poem, cover to cover
And I discovered that I like Keats less
But Yeats more, having seen them better.

A little old-fashioned, too many sonnets.
But many creases tell my affection.
And if it had never been given me
Then I would never be writing these lines.