65 Beautiful Love Poems Everyone Should Know (2023)

The blog– Posted on Tuesday 14th September

Nothing is as moving as beautiful love poems. Lucky for us romantics, they've been plentiful throughout history! From Rumi in the Islamic Golden Age, to the iconic playwright William Shakespeare, to modern 'Instapoets' like Rupi Kaur, love has been one of the most explored subjects among writers and poets for centuries.

In this post, we have compiled the 65 most beautiful love poems ever written. Whether you're looking for something to share with your partner, seeking comfort after a breakup, or longing for inspirationhow to write your own impassioned prose, there is definitely a poem on this list that will speak to your heart.

You wonder which love poem you are? Take our 30 second quiz to find out.

1. "Come Be My Baby" by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was one of America's most celebrated poets and storytellers, as well as an acclaimed educator and civil rights activist. In Come, And Be My Baby, Angelou beautifully captures how overwhelming modern life can be and the comfort love can offer in difficult times - if only for a moment.

2. "Bird Understander" by Craig Arnold

These are your own words

your way of noticing

and speak plainly

not turn away

from hurt

you offered them

for me i am only

to return them

If only I could show you

how very useless

you are not

The raw honesty of Craig Arnold's poetry makes Bird-Understander an easy choice for our list of the most beautiful love poems. In this piece, Arnold tells of a moment with his partner that makes his love grow even stronger. The language is simple but evocative, evoking strong metaphor in the reader's mind and facilitating a deeper understanding of Arnold's feelings.

3. "Apartment" by Margaret Atwood

back where we crouch

outside, eating popcorn

the edge of the retreating glacier

where painfully and with wonder

even survived

so far

We learn to make fire

Best known for their chillingly realistic naturedystopischer RomanThe story of the maid, Margaret Atwood shows similar strengths in this poem: “Habitation” is strikingly real. Here, for context, Atwood acknowledges the challenges of marriage and the work required to overcome them. It is this openness that makes the poem so beautiful.

4. "Variations on the Word Love" by Margaret Atwood

One of the most fascinating things about love is that it can come in so many different forms - platonic, passionate or even condescending. Margaret Atwood unwaveringly sets out some of these in her poem Variations on the Word Love.

5. „The More Loving One“ von W.H. Auden

Would all the stars disappear or die

I should learn to look at an empty sky

And feel its total darkness, sublime

Even if it can take a while for me.

While poems about heartbreak may not be as uplifting as those about the joys of love, they can be just as beautiful and meaningful. The Heavenlyextended metaphorby W.H. Auden's The More Loving One demonstrates this - although ultimately he would rather be 'the more loving one' himself, Auden perfectly sums up the pain of loss when love ends.

6. „To My Dear and Loving Husband“ von Anne Bradstreet

Your love is so great that there is no way I can repay it;

Heaven rewards you in many ways, I pray.

Then while we live let us persevere in love

That if we don't live anymore, we can live forever.

Anne Bradstreet's puritanical belief that marriage is a gift from God is strongly expressed in To My Dear and Loving Husband. Reading it through a modern lens, it's easy to begin the poem with some skepticism; However, Bradstreet's genuine gratitude and devotion to her husband soon manifests itself to make it a deeply moving affirmation of true love.

7. "Always for the First Time" by André Breton

A silk ladder is rolled out over the ivy

There are

That bend over the abyss

Of the hopeless merging of your presence and absence

I found the secret

Loving You

Always for the first time

Always For The First Time is André Breton's ode to a woman he has never met but is willing to wait for any day. Breton was the French founder of the Surrealist movement, which aimed to blur the lines between dream and reality in art - which explains the rather whimsical nature of this beautiful love poem.

8. "Love and Friendship" by Emily Brontë

Love is like the wild rosebush

Friendship is like holly -

The Olly is dark when the rosebush is in bloom

But what blooms more consistently?

Love doesn't have to be limited to romance - love between friends can be just as strong and beautiful. In "Love and Friendship," Emily Brontë compares romantic love to a rose - stunning but short-lived - and friendship to a holly that can endure the seasons.

9. "Being in Love" by Gwendolyn Brooks

Next on our list of the most beautiful poems about love is "To Be in Love" by Gwendolyn Brooks. Brooks was a poet, author, and teacher — and perhaps most notably, he was also the first African-American writer to win a Pulitzer Prize, in 1950. In this powerful poem, Brooks conveys the intense emotions that come with falling in love and how it can transform your entire outlook on life.

10. "How do I love you? (Sonnet 43)” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

how do i love you let me count the ways

I love you deep and wide and high

My soul can reach out when it feels out of sight

For the goals of being and ideal grace.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a renowned Victorian poet who influenced the work of many later English-language poets, including Emily Dickinson. 'How Do I Love Thee?' is one of Browning's most recognizable poems and indeed one of the most famous love poems ever written - his passionate yet clear declaration of love has resonated with readers for over 150 years.

11. "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns

Much like Browning, Robert Burns' deep love is evident in his poem A Red, Red Rose. Burns describes this love as passionate and refreshing at the same time - in every comparison we see that even the most beautiful language pales next to the depth of Burns' "Luve".

12. "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron

She walks in beauty like the night

Of cloudless fields and starry skies;

And the best of dark and light

Meet in her aspect and eyes;

So softened to this tender light

What heaven denies to the gaudy day.

Although its author was known for a life of adventure and scandal, Lord Byron's poem She Walks in Beauty makes far less reference to passionate or sexual love than his other works. His amazement at the beauty of this woman comes across immediately, making this a wonderfully romantic poem.

13. "Love is a fire that burns unseen" by Luís Vaz de Camões

Love is a fire that burns invisible

A wound that hurts and yet isn't felt

an ever unsatisfied contentment,

a pain that rages without hurting,

One of Portugal's greatest poets, Luís Vaz de Camões is known for his lyrical poetry and dramatic epics. "Love is a fire that burns unseen" exemplifies the former, reflecting his numerous tumultuous love affairs and how each involved a complex melding of pleasure and pain.

14. "Lovely Signor" by Cyrus Cassells

This is the endless wanderlust:

dervish,

yours is April-on-April love

that made me circle even beyond your eventful arms

to the Unsurpassed:

the one mighty demanding heart,

the glitter,

the handsome and naked Signor.

Beautiful Signor is an entry from Cyrus Cassell's book of poetry of the same name, which he dedicated to Lovers Anywhere. Culturally set against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic, the collection aims to remind people of the powerful beauty of romantic love.

15. "Ronde of Merciless Beauty" by Geoffrey Chaucer

On my word, I tell you faithfully

Through life and after death you are my queen;

Because with my death the whole truth will become visible.

Your two big eyes will kill me suddenly;

Her beauty shakes me who was once serene;

Straight through my heart the wound is swift and sharp.

Widely regarded as "the father of English poetry", Geoffrey Chaucer wrote some of the best-known works in the English language, including The Canterbury Tales and The Book of the Duchess. The stand-alone poem "Rondel of Merciless Beauty" (translated here from Middle English) tells of Chaucer's heartbreak after being abandoned by the love of his life and promises her his eternal devotion even as it pains him.

16. "Love Comes Softly" by Robert Creeley

Robert Creeley's short but powerful love poem encapsulates the feeling of never wanting to be apart from the person you love and almost makes you forget what life was like before you met them.

17. "[I carry your heart with me (I carry it in)" by E.E. Cummings

I carry your heart with me (I carry it inside me

my heart) I'm never without it (nowhere

I go, you go, my love, and whatever is done

only with me is your work, my darling)

As one of America's most prolific 20th-century poets, E.E. Cummings needs no introduction. Many of his poems are about love and "[I carry your heart with me (I carry it in)" is perhaps the best known of all. The rich imagery and intimate infatuation earn it a prominent place on our list of the most popular beautiful love poems ever written.

18. "[Love Is Thicker Than Forgetting]" by E.E. Cummings

Love is thicker than forgetting

thinner than remember

less than a wave is wet

more often than failure

Another brilliant example of Cummings' love poetry is [Love is Thicker than Oblivion]. Exploring the complexities of love, this poem expresses that it cannot be defined simply as one or the other - and indeed it paints love as a paradox of rarity and frequency, humility and profundity, sanity and madness, and more.

19. "Sthandwa sami (my beloved, isiZulu)" by Yrsa Daley-Ward

My thoughts about you are frightening but precise

I can see the house on the hill where we grow our own vegetables

and drink warm wine from jam jars

And sing songs in the kitchen 'til the sun comes up

Wena, you make me feel like myself again.

Yrsa Daley-Ward's Sthandwa sami (My Love, isiZulu) is one of the most personal and revealing love stories on this list. The poem is from her collectionBone,which delves into some of the deepest aspects of humanity, including religion, desire, femininity, race and vulnerability.

20. „Eheliebe“ von Guan Daosheng

You and me

got so much love

That it

burns like a fire

In which we bake a lump of clay

Shaped into a figure of you

And a character of me.

Guan Daosheng was a Chinese painter and poet of the early Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). "Married Love" uses the imagery of clay figures to depict two lovers brought together in the sacred act of marriage, much like clay solidifies in a kiln.

21. "Heart, we will forget him!" by Emily Dickinson

Heart, we will forget him!

You and me tonight

You can forget the warmth he gave

I will forget the light

"Heart, we shall forget him!" agrees with the energetic nature of so manyPoems by Emily Dickinson. It's a powerful reflection of the aftermath of a passionate love affair and how she tried to move on, and went as far as tocommandher heart into it, even though she knows it's futile.

22. "Air and Angels" by John Donne

John Donne's work is known for dealing with faith and salvation, and human and divine love. In "Angels and Air" Donne compares his love to the movement of angels - pure and elegant. His conclusion that two lovers can come together and grow stronger adds another layer to an already quite romantic poem.

23. "Flirt" by Rita Dove

Outside the sun

rolled up her blankets

and salt sprinkled overnight

over the sky. My heart

hums a melody

Heard nothing in years!

The tingling flirt at the beginning of a new relationship is certainly one of the most exciting parts of love. Rita Dove's "Flirtation" eloquently captures this joy and anticipation and is one of the poems that best relates to this aspect of love.

24. "Heart to Heart" by Rita Dove

It's neither red

not cute either.

It doesn't melt

or turn around

break or harden

so can't feel it

Pain,

Longing,

regret.

In "Heart to Heart", Rita Dove rejects the typical clichés that come with falling in love. With her down-to-earth approach to the subject, she assures the intended reader that while she may have a hard time showing her love, that doesn't mean she's not there.

25. "Love" by Carol Ann Duffy

You're crazy where I stand, hearing the sea

to the shore, to see the moon hurt and fret

for the earth. When morning comes, the sun, glowing,

cover the trees with gold, you go

in my direction,

off season, for light love reasons.

In 2009, Carol Ann Duffy made history when she was named the first female and openly lesbian British poet. "Love" is a perfect example of the monologue-style poetry she is known for, and fits her usual sensory and emotional writing style; here she describes love as beautifully boundless, like the light of the sun or the sound of the waves.

26. "The Love Poem" by Carol Ann Duffy

The Love Poem takes a different approach, showing Duffy's struggle to find the right words to describe their love. It's from her 2005 collectionRapture,which chronicles the speaker's journey through a love affair; At this stage, Duffy becomes metafictional about love poetry, struggling to explain the challenges of writing (citing several other famous poems to do so).

27. „Before You Came“ von Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Don't go now that you are here -

Stay. To make the world like itself again:

so may heaven be by heaven,

the street a street

and the glass of wine not a mirror, just a glass of wine.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz wrote about love, politics and community throughout his turbulent life and has been particularly recognized for his contributions to traditional Urdu poetry. In Before You Came, Faiz writes about how his perspective on life changed after falling in love and how he never wants to be without his lover to help him see things as they really are.

28. "Lines Representing Simple Happiness" by Peter Gizzi

It feels right to notice all the shiny things about you

There's nothing about you I don't want to know

Nothing is easy with you, but nothing is easier

A lot of good things come about you in relationship

The beauty of Peter Gizzi's poetry comes from its simplicity. In Lines Depicting Simple Happiness, Gizzi's reverence for his love is clear – but he avoids overused clichés, which means the poem is both more personal and less maudlin than other modern love poems.

29. „Six Sonnets: Crossing the West“ von Janice Gould

In this community of lovers, profuse sobbing

Break from me when I think of my love

back home, all i've done

and can't tell. This is the first time

I left her so completely, so alone.

Janice Gould's work revolves around themes of love and connection, with strong ties to her identity as a Maidu lesbian. In Six Sonnets: Crossing the West, Gould equates her lover with a dream, never short of heavenly ways to describe her... and grieving when she slips away, even if it's temporary.

30. „For Keeps“ von Joy Harjo

Contrasting love with the beauty of nature helps create an unbreakable bond between the two. This comparison illustrates Joy Harjo's feelings for her lover in her beautiful poem For Keeps.

31. "You're the Second to Last Love of My Life" directed by Rebecca Hazelton

The garden you plant and I plant

is tunneled through by voles,

the Vowels

we speak are not vows,

but there is something

hold me here for now

like your eyes i guess

are brown after all."

"You are the penultimate love of my life" is an unorthodox love poem that focuses on realitiesrather than the fantasiesbeing in love. Rebecca Hazelton doesn't write about her soulmate, and she's aware of it — but that doesn't make the love they share any less special.

32. "Yours" by Daniel Hoffmann

I am yours like the summer air in the evening

Obsessed with the scent of linden blossoms,

How the snow cap shines with light

Awarded by the radiant moon.

Without you I would be a lead-free tree

Blasted in a desolation without spring.

Daniel Hoffman is carefully selectedmetaphorsmake Yours a really beautiful love poem. Hoffman's total devotion to his beloved is evident — when you compare her to everything from summer evenings to snow-capped mountains, it seems like he can't stop thinking about her throughout the changing seasons.

33. "A Love Song for Lucinda" by Langston Hughes

love

Is a high mountain

Strong in a windy sky.

if you

Would never lose my breath

Don't climb too high.

Each verse of Langston Hughes' "A Love Song for Lucinda" compares love to a specific emotion, all connected to the natural world. This poem emphasizes the exhilaration of falling in love and the all-encompassing enchantment that comes with it.

34. "Poem for My Love" by June Jordan

Political activist, poet, and essayist June Jordan is one of the most widely published Jamaican-American writers of her generation. In her Poem for My Love, the speaker is in absolute spiritual awe of her partner and the way she thinks about her transcendent love.

35. "For Him" ​​by Rupi Kaur

no,

it will not

love be with

first look when

We meet, it will be love

in first memory

because I recognized you

in my mother's eyes when she tells me

Marry the kind of man you want your son to be.

At just 21, Rupi Kaur wrote, illustrated and published her first collection of poetry,Milk and honey.She describes her poetry as“simple and accessible”– which has allowed him to reach millions of readers worldwide, notably through his presence on Instagram. "for him" is a perfect example of a beautiful, powerful love poem that doesn't have to work too hard to pack a punch.

36. Untitled by Rupi Kaur

But love will hurt you

Love will never mean it

Love won't play games

Because love knows life

was hard enough

Another entry fromMilk and honey,This short, untitled poem takes a bittersweet and world-weary but ultimately generous look at love and its challenges.

37. "Poem to an Unnameable Man" by Dorothea Lasky

And I won't cry either

Although you'll expect me to

I was also smarter than you expected

'Cause I knew all along that you were mine

Prolific poet Dorothea Lasky has written several collections and currently directs the poetry program at Columbia University. In Poem To An Unnameable Man she uses celestial imagery to explore a romantic relationship and describes her power and strength over the lover who underestimates her.

38. "Movement Song" by Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde's "Movement Song" is about the end of a relationship. While the grief felt after the speaker's heart is broken is evident, the poem finally ends with hope that the couple can both have a new beginning - albeit apart.

39. "Camomile Tea" by Katherine Mansfield

We could be fifty, we could be five

We are so comfortable, so compact, so wise!

Under the kitchen table leg

My knee presses against his knee.

Our shutters are closed, the fire is low,

The faucet drips peacefully;

The pot shadow on the wall

Are black and round and easy to see.

Katherine Mansfield has been praised for her ability to simplify complex emotions through short stories and poetry. One of the quieter poems on this list, "Camomile Tea" paints a picture of a couple who are calm and still and happy with the life they have created for themselves, emphasizing the underappreciated joy, peaceful intimacy and comfort can bring into a relationship.

40. „Love Elegy in the Chinese Garden, with Koi“ von Nathan McClain

Because who has not done this –

loved so intensely even after all

has gone? Love something that has washed

his hands from you? I like to think I'm different now

that I'm kind of enlightened

but who am I kidding?

Nathan McClain's inspiration for "Love Elegy in the Chinese Garden, with Koi" was a date night at the Huntington Botanical Gardens. In the poem, McClain aimed at that"Explore the Feeling of Fear"between two potential lovers and the heavy emotional baggage that previous failed relationships can leave you with.

41. "I Think I Should Have Loved You Now (Sonnet IX)" by Edna St. Vincent Millay

I think I should have loved you now

And given in solemn words I hurled in jest;

And raised honest eyes that you may see

And caught your hand on my cheek and breast;

And all my pretty follies flung aside

That's what won you over to me, and under your gaze

Edna St. Vincent Millay's "I Think I Should Have Loved You Now" serves as a subversion of the traditional sonnet form. In the poem, the speaker laments his inability to reciprocate his lover's sincere affection, choosing instead sweet nothings and superficial flirtation over genuine connection.

42. “Love Sonnet XI” by Pablo Neruda

I long for your mouth, your voice, your hair.

I roam the streets quietly and famished.

Bread does not nourish me, dawn disturbs

me, all day

I chase after the liquid measure of your steps.

There is a strong sense of longing in Pablo Neruda's Love Sonnet XI, as our narrator confesses, the thought of his love never leaves him and drives him to the point of distraction. Evocative and at times alarming, it's a love poem that perfectly walks the blurred lines between romance and obsession.

43. "Your Feet" by Pablo Neruda

In Your Feet, Neruda expresses a similar devotion to his love as he declares his love for her from head to toe, giving thanks for the forces that he feels inevitably brought them together.

44. „Dear One Absent This Long While“ von Lisa Olstein

I expect you. I thought one night it was you

at the bottom of the driveway, you at the bottom of the stairs

You in a shower of light, but every time

leaves revealed in the wind,

the retreating shadow of a fox, daybreak.

We're waiting for you, cat and I, Bluebirds and I, the hearth.

The narrator in Lisa Olstein's "Dear One Absent This Long While" eagerly awaits her lover's return. The nervous hum of anticipation as the speaker waits to return to a life of comfort and ordinariness, a puzzle missing only his lover, lends a beautiful raw honesty to this love poem.

45. "My Lover Is A Woman" by Pat Parker

my lover is a woman

& when I hold her

feel her warmth

I feel good

to feel safe

Pat Parker was an American poet and activist who was inspired by her life as an African American lesbian feminist. My Lover Is a Woman is about the struggles Parker has faced as an openly queer woman of color and the safe haven her lover represents in this storm.

46. ​​"It's Here" by Harold Pinter

What is this attitude that we take

Turn away and then turn back?

what did we hear

It was the breath we took when we first met.

Listen. It is here.

Relationships have a funny way of transcending time and space, and that transcendence is expressed in Harold Pinter's beautiful love poem It Is Here, as he asks his beloved to think back to the beginning of their relationship, bringing with it the long-ago moment to life.

47. "Untitled" by Christopher Poindexter

I miss you even if you

are next to me.

I dream of your body

even when you sleep

in my arms.

The words I love you

could never be enough

Christopher Poindexter presents a deeply honest and relatable portrait of a love that transcends the boundaries of language, describing the overwhelming and paradoxical longing one can feel even when the loved one is right by one's side.

48. “Love is not a word” from Riya's Qurana

In the midst of all this

I hold a falling flower in the air

Don't fall to the ground

Isn't it up to you to look for it

To come and sit on it

And make love?

Don't forget to bring the word

Schatz

When you come.

Written by theStand pointof love personified, "Love Is Not A Word" is a rather ambiguous poem. Riya's Qurana examines the concept of love as a whole, relating the concept to nature to emphasize how elemental it is to the human experience.

49. "[Again and again, although we know the landscape of love]" by Rainer Maria Rilke

Again and again, although we know the landscape of love

and the little churchyard with its mournful names

and the terrible reticent gorge in which the others

end: we both go out together again and again

under the old trees, lie down again and

anew

among the flowers and look up at the sky.

The Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke believed that it is "perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks" for one person to love another (Letters to a Young Poet, 1929). In [Always Again, Although We Know the Landscape of Love], Rilke celebrates the ongoing, everyday love that two people can share and the power that comes from being vulnerable enough to love the other, though knowing the risk of heartbreak.

50. "Echo" by Christina Rossetti

In "Echo," Christina Rossetti reflects on a lost love and how she wishes it would return to her like an echo. Desperate and longing for her ex-lover, Rossetti's resulting longing creates a love poem that is as heartbreaking as it is beautiful.

51. "I Loved You First: But Your Love After" by Christina Rossetti

I loved you first: but then your love

Soaring mine, sang such a loftier song

How drowns out the friendly cooing of my dove.

Who owes the other the most? my love was long

And yours seemed to get stronger for a moment

Indeed, despite the concern for reciprocity (or lack thereof) in these opening lines, a sense of 'unity' runs through 'I loved you first: but your love afterwards', also by Rossetti. This poem reflects the feeling of complete understanding between two people who love each other deeply, as Rossetti explains how their individual feelings combine to create a love greater than the sum of their parts.

52. "Conquered by Love" by Rumi

The sky was lit up

by the splendor of the moon

So powerful

I fell to the ground

Your love

convinced me

I'm willing to give up

This worldly life

and surrender

to glory

from your rings

The words of the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi have transcended national, ethnic and religious boundaries for centuries. The passion and devotion in "Defeated by Love" is evident in every line, making this enduring testament to the power of love one of the most beautiful love poems on our list.

53. “Shall I compare you to a summer day? (Sonnet 18)” by William Shakespeare

Although William Shakespeare may not have written oneromance novels, there are few more famous love poets and "Shall I compare you to a summer's day?" is perhaps the most iconic and well-known opening line of a love poem. Its simplicity compared to some of Shakespeare's other sonnets sets it apart from an unparalleled library of works, but the hidden depths and layers of meaning in this densely packed mini-masterpiece have kept readers coming back for centuries.

54. "Let me not to the Marriage of True Spirits (Sonnet 116)" by William Shakespeare

Don't let me to the wedding of true spirits

admit obstacles. love is not love

What changes when it finds a change

Or remove bends with the remover.

Oh no! it is an everlasting sign

In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare speaks of the permanence of love - even if people change over time, the love between them will remain true and strong, or it will not be love at all.

55. "My lady's eyes are not like the sun" (Sonnet 130) by William Shakespeare

I admit I've never seen a goddess walk;

My lady, when she leaves, step on the ground:

And yet, by heaven, I think my love is rare

Like all, she denied with false comparison.

In Shakespeare's final entry on our list, he challenges the traditional association of love and beauty. It doesn't matter what his beloved looks like - for him she is the rarest and most precious thing in the world.

56. "Philosophy of Love" by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The fountains mingle with the river

And the rivers with the ocean

The winds of heaven mingle forever

With sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single;

All things by divine law

Meet in one spirit and mingle

why not me with yours

While a beautiful love poem, "Philosophy of Love" offers a much more logical approach to romance than many of the other poems on our list. Percy Bysshe Shelley expresses to his lover that their love is as natural as a river meeting the ocean - but also that all the beauties of nature are meaningless if he doesn't have them.

57. "One Day I Wrote Her Name (Sonnet 75)" by Edmund Spenser

One day I wrote her name on the strand

But the waves came and washed it away:

Again I wrote it with a second hand,

But the tide came and made my pain its prey.

This beautiful love poem is part ofAmoretti, a sonnet cycle about Edmund Spenser's relationship with Elizabeth Boyle. Spenser explains in "Sonnet 75" that his love for Boyle will never end and that he will do whatever it takes, although his attempts to create a physical memorial to his beloved by writing her name in the sand are repeatedly thwarted to make it last

58. "I'm Not Yours" by Sara Teasdale

The longing for genuine, passionate, all-encompassing love is the central theme of Sara Tesdale's I Am Not Yours. The speaker doesn't feel like she belongs in her current relationship and wants to find a partner who will make her feel lost in her love.

59. „Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal“ von Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Now the purple leaf sleeps, now the white;

The cypress still beckons in the palace corridor;

Even the gold fin in the porphyry baptismal font does not wink.

The firefly awakens; wake up with me

Now the milk-white peacock falls like a ghost,

And like a ghost she shimmers towards me.

"Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal" is a song byThe princess,a longer narrative poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It was inspired by theghazal, a Persian form of love poetry that focuses on untenable love, and is a classic master class in sensual description.

60. "Poem I Wrote Sitting Across The Table From You" by Kevin Varrone

I would fold

in the hole in my pocket and get out

in my pocket or at least in my pants

but before I did

like an old star

I would take your hand

Kevin Varrone confesses how close he feels to his lover in "Poem I Wrote Sitting Across The Table From You". Written in a moment of procrastination while working on a longer verse in a coffee shop, the poem expresses how Varrone wants his beloved to be a part of all his adventures, no matter how big or small.

61. „On Earth We’re Shortly Gorgeous“ von Ocean Vuong

Tell me it was for hunger

& Not less. For hunger is to be given

the body what it knows

it can't last. That amber light

weakened by another war

is all my hand holds

to your chest.

While you're probably familiar with Vuong's 2019 novel of the same name, you might not be familiar with the poem that came first. Ocean Vuong's writing invites the reader to slow down and understand every word, and On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous explores themes of desire, impermanence and desire in love.

62. "Love After Love" by Derek Walcott

You will love again the stranger who was yourself.

give wine. give bread. give back your heart

to yourself, to the stranger who loved you

your whole life that you ignored

for someone else who knows you by heart.

Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Walcott offers advice and reassurance to anyone experiencing a breakup in his poem "Love After Love." The poem encourages the reader to come back to themselves and is a tonic in a world of love poetry that expects us to give ourselves completely to those in love.

63. "I Love You" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I love your lips when they're wet with wine

And red with wild desire;

I love your eyes when the love light lies

Lit with a passionate fire.

I love your arms when the warm white flesh

Touch mine in a loving embrace;

I love your hair when the strands get tangled

your kisses on my face

In "I Love You," Ella Wheeler Wilcox lays out the tiny moments that make the narrator feel her love so passionately, before describing the colder qualities she doesn't look for in a relationship. This juxtaposition helps make the initial love she describes all the more special.

64. „We Have Not Long to Love“ von Tennessee Williams

Although better known for his plays as aRomanautor, Tennessee Williams was also an accomplished poet. In "We Have Not Long to Love," Williams emphasizes the importance of appreciating the times we live inagainhave and appreciate the love that comes with it and remember that nothing lasts forever.

65. "First Love Poem" by Matthew Yeager

Being told "I love you" by you could be good for me

the high point of my life, the best feeling, the best summit

on my sentiment chart, like the Chrysler building

may not be the tallest building in the New York sky, but it is

the best, the most exquisitely seasoned

Matthew Yeagers „Poem to First Love“ ist bittersüßyoung romancewhere, as the title suggests, the speaker recalls his relationship with his first love and explores the various ways one might attempt to logically quantify the utterly illogical power of love.

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Would you like to delve a little deeper into the world of poetry? Check out our post on the topicOver 60 of the best books of poetry of all time!