Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas 1934-1952 (New Directions Book)
Dylan Thomas's poems gambol and frisk across the tongue and imagination like those of few poets I have ever read.  His choicely crafted (and often synaesthetic) phrases, his musicality, and his laughingly lilting language are nicely captured by the first two stanzas ofFern Hill--read it aloud for full effect:Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughsAbout the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,The night above the dingle starry,Time let me hail and climbGolden in the heydays of his eyes,And honored among wagons I was prince of the apple towns,And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leavesTrail with daisies and barleyDown the rivers of the windfall light.And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barnsAbout the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,In the sun that is young once only,Time let me play and beGolden in the mercy of his means,And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calvesSang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,And the sabbath rang slowlyIn the pebbles of the holy streams...This collection of his poems contains only those pieces he wished  preserved and should be owned by anyone who loves beautifully crafted language.