laureates dont just sit on gleaming laurels they think reflect and act with a purpose this poem is dedicated to them poet laureates through the centuries intellectuals artists leaders they inspire challenge and galvanise their words rhythm passion and hopes are echoing in the library of babel william shakespare compared thee to a summers day thou art more lovely and more temperate ee cummings ponders about bravery indeed it takes genuine courage to grow up and become who you really are walt whitman asks one to define the moment since true character needs to be tempered and forged maya angelouc warned that people will never forget how you made them feel as humanity is expressed through true empathy william wordsworth urged us to fill our papers with the breathings of our hearts today we burned pages so poets are not desperately muted or hopelessly lost oscar wilde once had the simplest tastes thus he is always satisfied with the best langston hughes advocated us to hold fast to dreams for if they die life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly lord byron lived with a feverish zeal he understood that there is no instinct like that of the heart it is fitting to end with the uplifting words of emily dickinson who said hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tunes without the words and never stops at all we listen to their poetry and hear their roar living our best lives today and ever more