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Love Poetry

My Favourite Love Poems

Sonnet 18

William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

The Bungler

 

Amy Lowell

 

You glow in my heart

Like the flames of uncounted candles.

But when I go to warm my hands,

My clumsiness overturns the light,

And then I stumble

Against the tables and chairs.

A Valentine

Elizabeth Trefusis

When to Love's influence woman yields,
She loves for life! and daily feels
Progressive tenderness!--each hour
Confirms, extends, the tyrant's power!
Her lover is her god! her fate!--
Vain pleasures, riches, wordly state,
Are trifles all!--each sacrifice
Becomes a dear and valued prize,
If made for him, e'en tho' he proves
Forgetful of their former loves!

One Way Love

Ara John Movsesian

A one way love can never thrive;
It needs reciprocation.
And so in order to survive
My love needs affirmation.

So throw your caution to the sky,
And let your heart command.
You'll find that it will not deny
A love which must expand.

Come now, to me, with open arms
And sweep me off my feet;
And then display for me your charms,
To make my love complete.

My one way love will terminate
Without your inspiration.
So, therefore, please reciprocate
With no more hesitation.

My Love

Fanny Kemble

There's not a fibre in my trembling frame
That does not vibrate when thy step draws near,
There's not a pulse that throbs not when I hear
Thy voice, thy breathing, nay thy very name.
When thou art with me every sense seems dim,
And all I am, or know, or feel is thee;
My soul grows faint, my veins run liquid flame,
And my bewildered spirit seems to swim
In eddying whirls of passion, dizzily.

When thou art gone, there creeps into my heart
A cold and bitter consciousness of pain:
The light, the warmth of life with thee depart,
And I sit dreaming over and over again
Thy greeting clasp, thy parting look and tone;
And suddenly I wake--and am alone.

Vision

May Thielgaard Watts

To-day there have been lovely things
I never saw before;
Sunlight through a jar of marmalade;
A blue gate;
A rainbow
In soapsuds on dishwater;
Candelight on butter;
The crinkled smile of a little girl
Who had new shoes with tassels;
A chickadee on a thorn-apple;
Empurpled mud under a willow,
Where white geese slept;
White ruffled curtains sifting moonlight
On the scrubbed kitchen floor;
The under side of a white-oak leaf;
Ruts in the road at sunset:
An egg yolk in a blue bowl.

My love kissed my eyes last night.

Love's Trinity

Alfred Austin

Soul, heart, and body, we thus singly name,
Are not in love divisible and distinct,
But each with each inseparably link'd.
One is not honour, and the other shame,
But burn as closely fused as fuel, heat, and flame.

They do not love who give the body and keep
The heart ungiven; nor they who yield the soul,
And guard the body. Love doth give the whole;
Its range being high as heaven, as ocean deep,
Wide as the realms of air or planet's curving sweep

A Woman's Reason

Anonymous

Love not me for comely grace,
For my pleasing eye or face,
Nor for any outward part:
No, nor for a constant heart!
For these may fail or turn to ill:
So thou and I shall sever.

Keep therefore a true woman's eye,
And love me still, but know not why!
So hast thou the same reason still
To dote upon me for ever.

Love Song

Mary Carolyn Davies

There is a strong wall about me to protect me:
It is built of the words you have said to me.

There are swords about me to keep me safe:
They are the kisses of your lips.

Before me goes a shield to guard me from harm:
It is the shadow of your arms between me and danger.
All the wishes of my mind know your name,
And the white desires of my heart
They are acquainted with you.
The cry of my body for completeness,
That is a cry to you.
My blood beats out your name to me, unceasing, pitiless
Your name, your name.

A Red, Red Rose

Robert Burns

O my Luve's like a red, red rose,
     That's newly sprung in June;
O my Luve's like the melodie
     That's sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
     So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my Dear,
     Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear,
     And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
I will luve thee still, my Dear,
     While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve,
     And fare the weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
     Though it ware ten thousand mile!


 

How Do I Love Thee

Elizabeth Barret Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise,
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints -I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! -and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

If Thou Must Love Me

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

If thou must love me, let it be for naught
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
`I love her for her smile -her look -her way
Of speaking gently -for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day' -
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee, -and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry -
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.

Longing

Matthew Arnold

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again.
For then the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.

Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times,
A messenger from radiant climes,
And smile on thy new world, and be
As kind to others as to me.

Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth,
Come now, and let me dream it truth.
And part my hair, and kiss my brow,
And say My love! why sufferest thou?

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again.
For then the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.

Far Far Away

by Sumod

When we're not together
my thoughts drift alongside
memories of you
Things we've done
the way you smile so brightly
that helps me forget my worries
and celebrate our wonders.

When we're not together
my moods come into play more often
and make me yearn for the strength
I feel in you
the security I find in your eyes

When we're not together
I sometimes feel so very alone,
for myself and you ...
imagining you being without
my loving feelings
as I am without yours.

When we're not together ...
my best wishes still go with you always,
wishing to share in your exitements
wanting to comfort your hurts
needing to be reassured that
you're keeping warm and well

When we're not together...
I seem to spend my time
wishing that we were.

The Fountains Smoke

Anon

The fountains smoke and yet no flames they show;
    Stars shine all night, though undiscerned by day;
And trees do spring, yet are not seen to grow;
    And shadows move, although they seem to stay.
In Winter's woe is buried Summer's bliss,
And Love loves most where Love most secret is.

The stillest streams descries the greatest deep;
    The clearest sky is subject to a shower.
Conceit's most sweet whenas it seems to sleep;
    And fairest days do in the morning lower.
The silent groves sweet nymphs they cannot miss,
For Love loves most where Love most secret is.

The rarest jewels hidden virtue yield;
    The sweet of traffic is a secret gain;
The year once old doth show a barren field,
    And plants seem dead, and yet they spring again.
Cupid is blind. The reason why is this:
Love loveth most where Love most secret is.

Why?

Mary Webb

Why did you come, with your enkindled eyes
And mountain-look, across my lower way,
And take the vague dishonour from my day
By luring me from paltry things, to rise
And stand beside you, waiting wistfully
The looming of a larger destiny?

Why did you with strong fingers fling aside
The gates of possibility, and say
With vital voice the words I dream to-day?
Before, I was not much unsatisfied:
But since a god has touched me and departed,
I run through every temple, broken-hearted.

Smiles

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Smile a little, smile a little,
As you go along,
Not alone when life is pleasant,
But when things go wrong.
Care delights to see you frowning,
Loves to hear you sigh;
Turn a smiling face upon her –
Quick the dame will fly.

Smile a little, smile a little,
All along the road;
Every life must have its burden,
Every heart its load.
Why sit down in gloom and darkness
With your grief to sup?
As you drink Fate’s bitter tonic,
Smile across the cup.

Smile upon the troubled pilgrims
Whom you pass and meet;
Frowns are thorns, and smiles are blossoms
Oft for weary feet.
Do not make the way seem harder
By a sullen face;
Smile a little, smile a little,
Brighten up the place.

Smile upon your undone labour;
Not for one who grieves
O’er his task waits wealth or glory;
He who smiles achieves.
Though you meet with loss and sorrow
In the passing years,
Smile a little, smile a little,
Even through your tears.

If

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

DEAR love, if you and I could sail away,
With snowy pennons to the wind unfurled,
Across the waters of some unknown bay,
And find some island far from all the world;

If we could dwell there, ever more alone,
While unrecorded years slip by apace,
Forgetting and forgotten and unknown
By aught save native song-birds of the place;

If Winter never visited that land,
And Summer's lap spilled o'er with fruits and flowers,
And tropic trees cast shade on every hand,
And twinèd boughs formed sleep-inviting bowers;

If from the fashions of the world set free,
And hid away from all its jealous strife,
I lived alone for you, and you for me--
Ah! then, dear love, how sweet were wedded life.

But since we dwell here in the crowded way,
Where hurrying throungs rush by to seek for gold,
And all is common-place and work-a-day,
As soon as love's young honeymoon grows old:

Since fashion rules and nature yields to art,
And life is hurt by daily jar and fret,
'T is best to shut such dreams down in the heart
And go our ways alone, love, and forget.

Two Truths

Helen Hunt Jackson

'Darling,' he said, 'I never meant
...To hurt you;' and his eyes were wet.
'I would not hurt you for the world:
...Am I to blame if I forget?'

'Forgive my selfish tears!' she cried,
...'Forgive! I knew that it was not
Because you meant to hurt me, sweet---
...I knew it was that you forgot!'

But all the same, deep in her heart
...Rankled this thought, and rankles yet,---
'When love is at its best, one loves
...So much that he cannot forget.'

SILENT IS THE HOUSE (extract)

 

Emily Bronte

 

Come, the wind may never again

Blow as now it blows for us;

And the stars may never again shine

            As they now shine;

Long before October returns,

Seas of blood will have parted us:

And you must crush the love in your heart,

And I the love in mine!

 

Love and Friendship

 

Emily Jane Bronte 

 

Love is like the wild rose-briar, 
Friendship like the holly-tree 
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms 
But which will bloom most constantly? 

The wild-rose briar is sweet in the spring, 
Its summer blossoms scent the air; 
Yet wait till winter comes again 
And who will call the wild-briar fair? 

Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now 
And deck thee with the holly's sheen, 
That when December blights thy brow 
He may still leave thy garland green. 

 

A SONNET TO THE MOON

 

Charles Best

 

LOOK how the pale queen of the silent night
Doth cause the ocean to attend upon her,
And he, as long as she is in his sight,
With her full tide is ready her to honor.
But when the silver waggon of the moon
Is mounted up so high he cannot follow,
The sea calls home his crystal waves to moan,
And with low ebb doth manifest his sorrow.
So you that are the sovereign of my heart
Have all my joys attending on your will;
My joys low-ebbing when you do depart,
When you return their tide my heart doth fill.
So as you come and as you do depart,
Joys ebb and flow within my tender heart.

A WHITE ROSE

John Boyle O'Reilly

The red rose whispers of passion,
And the white rose breathes of love;
O, the red rose is a falcon,
And the white rose is a dove.

But I send you a cream-white rosebud
With a flush on its petal tips;
For the love that is purest and sweetest
Has a kiss of desire on the lips

 



 A BIRTHDAY

Christina Rossetti

My heart is like a singing bird 
Whose nest is in a water'd shoot; 
My heart is like an apple-tree 
Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit; 
My heart is like a rainbow shell 
That paddles in a halcyon sea; 
My heart is gladder than all these, 
Because my love is come to me. 

Raise me a daïs of silk and down; 
Hang it with vair and purple dyes; 
Carve it in doves and pomegranates, 
And peacocks with a hundred eyes; 
Work it in gold and silver grapes, 
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys; 
Because the birthday of my life 
Is come, my love is come to me. 

Love's Philosphy

Percy Byssche Shelley

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle -
Why not I with thine?


See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea -
What are all these kissings worth
If thou kiss not me?


Music, when soft voices die

Percy Byssche Shelley


Music, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory -
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.


Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heaped for the beloved's bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.


Those Who Love

Sara Teasdale


Those who love the most,
Do not talk of their love,
Francesca, Guinevere,
Deirdre, Iseult, Heloise,
In the fragrant gardens of heaven
Are silent, or speak if at all
Of fragile inconsequent things.


And a woman I used to know
Who loved one man from her youth,
Against the strength of the fates
Fighting in somber pride
Never spoke of this thing,
But hearing his name by chance,
A light would pass over her face.


The Flight

Sara Teasdale

Look back with longing eyes and know that I will follow,
Lift me up in your love as a light wind lifts a swallow,
Let our flight be far in sun or blowing rain --
But what if I heard my first love calling me again?


Hold me on your heart as the brave sea holds the foam,
Take me far away to the hills that hide your home;
Peace shall thatch the roof and love shall latch the door --
But what if I heard my first love calling me once more?


I Do Not Love Thee

Caroline Elizabeth Norton


I DO not love thee!---no! I do not love thee!


And yet when thou art absent I am sad;

And envy even the bright blue sky above thee,

Whose quiet stars may see thee and be glad.

 

I do not love thee!---yet, I know not why,

Whate'er thou dost seems still well done, to me:

And often in my solitude I sigh

That those I do love are not more like thee!

 

I do not love thee!---yet, when thou art gone,

I hate the sound (though those who speak be dear)

Which breaks the lingering echo of the tone

Thy voice of music leaves upon my ear.

 

I do not love thee!---yet thy speaking eyes,

With their deep, bright, and most expressive blue,

Between me and the midnight heaven arise,

Oftener than any eyes I ever knew.

 

I know I do not love thee! yet, alas!

Others will scarcely trust my candid heart;

And oft I catch them smiling as they pass,

Because they see me gazing where thou art. 
 

 

Heart! We Will Forget Him

Emily Dickinson


Heart, we will forget him!
You an I, tonight!
You may forget the warmth he gave,
I will forget the light.

When you have done, pray tell me
That I my thoughts may dim;
Haste! lest while you're lagging.
I may remember him!



Love

Emily Dickinson


 

Love is anterior to life,

Posterior to death,

Initial to creation, and

The exponent of breath



The First Day

Christina Rossetti




I wish I could remember the first day,
                           First hour, first moment of your meeting me;
                           If bright or dim the season it might be;
                           Summer or winter for aught I can say.
                           So, unrecorded did it slip away,
                           So blind was i to see and to forsee,
                           So dull to mark the budding of my tree
                           That would not blossom, yet, for many a May.
                           

                           If only I could recollect it!  Such
                           A day of days!  I let it come and go
                           As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow.
                           It seemed to mean so little, meant so much!
                           If only now I could recall that touch,
                           First touch of hand in hand! - Did one but know!
      



That I want thee, only thee-let my heart repeat without end. All desires that distract me, day and night, are false and empty to the core.


As the night keeps hidden in its gloom the petition for light, even thus in the depth of my unconsciousness rings the cry-I want thee, only thee.


As the storm still seeks its end in peace when it strikes against peace with all its might, even thus my rebellion strikes against thy love and still its cry is-I want thee, only thee. Rabindrath Tagore (Gitanjali)


 


Let thy love play upon my voice and rest on my silence.


Let it pass through my heart into all my movements.


Let thy love like stars shine in the darkness of my sleep and dawn in my awakening.


Let it burn in the flame of my desires


And flow in all currents of my own love.


Let me carry thy love in my life as a harp does its music, and give it back to thee at last with my life. Tagore (Crossing)


 


My eyes have lost their sleep in watching; yet if I do not meet thee still it is sweet to watch.


My heart sits in the shadow of the rains waiting for thy love; if she is deprived still it is sweet to hope.


They walk away in their different paths leaving me behind; if I am alone still it is sweet to listen for thy footsteps.


The wistful face of the earth weaving its autumn mists wakens longing in my heart; if it is in vain still it is sweet to feel the pain of longing. Tagore (crossing)


 


My love, I will keep you hidden in my eyes; I will thread your image like a gem on my joy and hang it on my bosom.


You have been in my heart ever since I was a child, throughout my youth, throughout my life, even through all my dreams.


You dwell in my being when I sleep and when I wake.


Know that I am woman, and bear with me when you find me wanting. For I have thought and thought and know for certain that all that is left for me in this world is your love, and if I lose you for a moment I die.


Chandidas says,’Be tender to her who is yours in life and death’.


Tagore (vaishnava song)


 


In love the aim is neither pain nor pleasure but love only.


While free love binds, division destroys it, for love is what unites.


Love is lit from love as fire from fire, but whence came the first flame?


In your being it leaps under the rod of pain.


Then, when the hidden fire flames forth, the in and the out are one and all barriers fall in ashes.


Let the pain glow fiercely, burst from the heart and beat back darkness, need you be afraid?


The poet says, ‘Who can buy love without paying its price? When you fail to give yourself you make the whole world miserly.’ Tagore


 


Give me the supreme courage of love, this is my prayer-the courage to speak, to do, to suffer at thy will, to leave all things or be left alone.


Strengthen me on errands of danger, honour me with pain, and help me climb to that difficult mood which sacrifices daily to thee.


Give me the supreme confidence of love, this is my prayer-the confidence that belongs to life in death, to victory in defeat, to the power hidden in frailest beauty, to that dignity in pain which accepts hurt but disdains to return it. Tagore

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There’s so much to say but your eyes keep interrupting me