Like prayer, the benefits of poetry are both immediate and long-term. Reading a poem for the first time that we connect with, we feel the exhilaration of surprise, insight, wisdom, and sometimes even humor that blossoms within. With repeated readings, the poem enters our constantly consulted brain deck of index cards. It enters our heartbeats, our breathing patterns, our very cells. Like a divine perfume, an oft-repeated poem permeates our souls.