Poem or Song?

I hate you with a necessary hate

Poem “The Destroyer of a Soul” Lionel Johnson

When I am dead, my dearest, sing no sad songs for me

Poem “Song” Christina Rossetti

But I’m trapped by your love, and I’m chained to your side.

Song “Love Is a Battlefield” Pat Benatar (80s pop)

For there is no friend like a sister in calm or stormy weather

Poem “Goblin Market” Christina Rossetti

Now I know all the wrong turns, stumbles, and falls brought me here.

Song “The Luckiest” Ben Folds (alternative rock)

No more broken promises, no more call to war, unless it’s love and peace that we’re really fighting for.

Song “If You’re Out There” John Legend (R&B)

I’m happiest when most away. I can bear my soul from its home of clay

Poem “I’m happiest when most away” Emily Bronte

It made no sense the way love makes no sense. Then it made all the sense in the world.

Poem “For the One Man Who Likes My Thighs” Denise Duhamel

Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries.

Poem “Still I Rise” Maya Angelou

You’re sick of feeling numb, you’re not the only one, I’ll take you by the hand, and I’ll show you a world that you can understand.

Song “Pain” Three Days Grace (Alternative Rock)

Oh you are in my blood like holy wine. Oh you taste so bitter and so sweet. I could drink a case of you.

Song “Case of You” Jane Monheit (Jazz)

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

Poem “Mother to Son” Langston Hughes

And unless my rage yields to overwhelming love, I will, in all your boldness, tear your living heart from your very breast.

Poem “Capitolo 13” Veronica Franco

A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I’ll sell ‘em for a dollar. They’re worth so much more after I’m a goner.

Song “If I Die Young” The Band Perry (Country)

And the waitress is practicing politics, as the businessmen slowly get stoned. Yes, they’re sharing a drink they call loneliness, but it’s better than drinking alone.

Song “Piano Man” Billy Joel

All I have is a voice to undo the folded lie, the romantic lie in the brain of the sensual man- in-the-street, and the lie of Authority, whose buildings scrape the sky.

Poem “September 1, 1939” W. H. Auden

There’s always that one person that will always have your heart. You’ll never see it comin’ cause your blinded from the start.

Song “My Boo” Usher feat. Alicia Keys

For I have known them all already, known them all—have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, have measured out my life with coffee spoons

Poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” T. S. Eliot

In their entwined sleep they exchanged arms and legs, in their dreams their brains took each other hostage.

Poem “Lovesong” Ted Hughes

Well, I fight Authority, Authority always wins.

Song “Authority Song” John Mellencamp

Every little thing that you have said and done feels like it’s deep within me. Doesn’t really matter if you’re on the run, it feels like we’re meant to be.

Song “As Long as You Love Me” Backstreet Boys

What does it matter that my love could not keep her? The night is shattered and she is not with me.

Poem “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines” Pablo Neruda

I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd. I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud.

Song “Killing Me Softly” Roberta Flack