Favorite Poems: A Channel Passage

The damned ship lurched and slithered. Quiet and quick
My cold gorge rose; the long sea rolled; I knew
I must think hard of something, or be sick;
And could think hard of only one thing -- you!
You, you alone could hold my fancy ever!
And with you memories come, sharp pain, and dole.
Now there's a choice -- heartache or tortured liver!
A sea-sick body, or a you-sick soul!

Do I forget you? Retchings twist and tie me,
Old meat, good meals, brown gobbets, up I throw.
Do I remember? Acrid return and slimy,
The sobs and slobber of a last year's woe.
And still the sick ship rolls. 'Tis hard, I tell ye,
To choose 'twixt love and nausea, heart and belly.

Rupert Brooke, 1909

Brooke (1887-1915) is famous for his patriotic war poetry written at the start of World War I, but I like him better for this, perhaps the funniest and least decorous sonnet in the English language, a sublime bit of cheek. It still has the power to offend; I got in trouble once for posting it on a poetry discussion board -- a genteel lady went all to pieces. (I must admit, the ensuing debate was a riot.) It is also a splendid poem to teach to high school students who think literature is stuffy and remote.