A tune that one has once heard and liked [that] seems to haunt the mind and will not be dismissed until entirely mastered.

A poet of rare lyric intensity - Oxford Companion to English Literature

The mountaineer climbs the mountain because it's there; the poet writes poetry so that it should continue to be there.

the patron saint of poetry - Carol Ann Duffy

People do seem to need poetry; it makes our ordinary life feel richer. - Elaine Feinstein