I never studied poetry
not even that well read,
I couldn't tell a Tennyson
from a Yeats' or Keats',
I oft' read Poe instead.
Is it the message
or just the way words flow,
is it the images
that are conjured as we go?
What is it that captivates
the mind. as it is wed,
to the words sublime,
that sound within the head?

No it is not this.

It is when the music
in the poet's soul
reaches out with verse
and pierces to my very heart
beyond the sound of words,
releasing this reader
from his mortal coil
and transporting him
to where that music plays,
before it's covered by my thoughts.

David Taylor

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/what-can-a-poem-do/