40 Love Poems for Her That Will Make Her Fall in Love
Last updated: February 6, 2025 by Kaz
Are you searching for the perfect love poems for her, in order to make your girlfriend or wife feel truly special and cherished? Look no further! We've created a diverse selection of beautiful, heartfelt, and touching poems that are ideal for those moments when you find yourself at a loss for words to convey the depth of your love for your significant other. There are so many ways to present these beautiful words: write them into a card, print them out and tuck them into her bag for a little surprise, or give it to her as a book mark.
When I took literature and poetry classes back in my college days, I found that romantic poetry was some of my favorites. I love the natural imagery and evocative metaphors. And there's no matching the heart-ache and melancholy of longing that comes across in many of these pieces. Even though many of these poems were written over 100 years ago the themes of love and yearning are still relevant today.
These carefully crafted verses will help you express your feelings with eloquence and sincerity, leaving a lasting impression on the heart of your beloved. I hope you’ll enjoy this selection of romantic poems just as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
1. The First Day by 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 foresee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree
That would not blossom yet for many a May.
Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) was an English poet who became famous for her devotional and lyrical poetry. She was one of the most important female poets of the Victorian era. I think she is quite similar to Emily Dickinson due to her melancholic awareness of time passing and losses of innocence.
2. She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
I love this poem so much. As one of Byron's most famous poems, it’s the perfect example of Romantic poetry. It explores the topic of an idealized beauty: a woman who is perfect in the lover's eyes. I appreciate the contrasting imagery of light and dark, which highlights harmony and a perfect balance of elegance and grace. It’s divine.
3. Shall I Compare Thee (Excerpt) by Anna Seward
Shall I compare thee to the orient day?
Thou art more beauteous in thy morning ray!
Shall I compare thee to the evening star?
More mild in majesty thy glories are!
Anna Seward (1742–1809) was often called the "Swan of Lichfield." She was an 18th-century English poet known for her elegant and expressive writing. I love discovering lesser known poets like Seward. This short excerpt follows the pattern of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?"), but with its own distinct tone.
4. How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrett 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.
This poem feels special in the way that it was inspired by the real, genuine love that Elizabeth Barrett Browning had for Robert Browning during their courtship. Their relationship was one of the most famous in literary history and conducted mostly through letters.
5. The White Rose by 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.
John Boyle O’Reilly (1844–1890) was an Irish poet and activist. He became well known for his lyrical poetry and political writings. This poem, "The White Rose," while brief, offers insight into the subtle nature of love and desire. I love how he has used the image of a falcon (strong and aggressive) to contrast with the dove (peaceful and gentle).
6. Bright Star by John Keats
Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—
No—yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever—or else swoon to death.
I don’t know why but I can't get enough of tragic love stories. There’s something beautiful in the sadness. This 1819 poem was inspired by Keats’s fiancée, Fanny Brawne. They had a short and passionate relationship, but Keats died of tuberculosis at age 25. It reminds me that life is super short. Be passionate when you can, because you never know when your time will come.
7. The Kiss by Sara Teasdale
Before you kissed me only winds of heaven
Had kissed me, and the tenderness of rain—
Now you have come, how can I care for kisses
Like theirs again?
Sara Teasdale (1884–1933) was an American lyric poet known best for her sweet and emotional poetry. This poem is about how the first experience of love changed her forever. While love is beautiful, when it has gone it can be difficult to recapture.
8. A Red, Red Rose by 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.
So fair art thou, my bonnie 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;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only luve,
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile.
When researching love poems I fell in love with this one by Burns. It was actually first written as a song that combined the Scots dialect with traditional poetic rhythm. It was set to an existing Scots melody and became a popular folk song. When I first listened to it, I felt like I had already heard it before; it’s very familiar.
9. Love’s Thought by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
I think of thee, when golden sunbeams glimmer
Across the blue sea’s wave at set of day;
I think of thee, when moonlight’s silver shimmer
Sleeps on the lonely shore in solemn play.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) was an American poet and author. She is best known for her uplifting and emotional verse. I love the alliteration of "moonlight’s silver shimmer;" it’s so evocative and reminds me of a cool dark night.
10. Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? by 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 wanderest 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.
Seriously you can’t forget Shakespeare when it comes to romantic poetry. I learnt recently that this sonnet was part of Shakespeare’s 154-sonnet sequence, published in 1609. For those familiar with the structure of Shakespeare’s poetry, this poem follows the typical Shakespearean sonnet form: three quatrains and a rhymed couplet (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG). It’s pretty fun to try and write your own sonnets mimicking this style.
11. I Carry Your Heart with Me by e.e. cummings
I carry your heart with me (I carry it in
my heart) I am never without it. Anywhere
I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling.
I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)
I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you.
Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)
This one was written in 1927 and is absolutely one of my favorite poems of all time. e.e. cummings really loved his wife, and this poem communicates that. The use of nature imagery is particularly evocative. The moon, sun, a bud, the sky, a tree. A connection to natural and cosmic elements adds to the beauty of the language.
12. Love’s Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one another’s being 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?
Did you know that Percy Shelley was married to Mary Shelley who was the author of Frankenstein? Imagine that partnership! Apparently it was quite rocky and turbulent. I think sometimes the most dramatic relationships can lead to the best poetry. I love this poem and how it uses rhetorical questions to convince the reader to fall in love. It uses two octaves with a ABABCDCD rhyme scheme.
13. The Love of Loves by Christina Rossetti
Love loves you, love wills you,
Love brings you life only,
For love loves solely.
This short ditty by Rossetti reminds me of how powerful love is. When you’re in love, you could move mountains to be with that person. I think it is the most inspiring and powerful emotion. Rossetti is known for her clear and simple language. Sometimes a few words are all you need.
14. When You Are Old by W.B. Yeats
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
I just love Yeats so much! I have a copy of Yeat’s early collection The Rose (1893) and I found this little gem while flicking through the pages. This poem is actually inspired by a sonnet by Pierre de Ronsard - which indicates how much Yeats admired classical poetry. The tone is gentle, yet regretful, and speaks to a tale of love lost.
15. I loved you first: but afterwards your love by Christina Rossetti
I loved you first: but afterwards your love
Outsoaring mine, sang such a loftier song
As drowned the friendly cooings of my dove.
Which owes the other most? my love was long,
And yours one moment seemed to wax more strong;
I loved and guessed at you, you construed me—
And loved me for what might or might not be.
This poem is often referred to by its first line, "I loved you first: but afterwards your love." Love really is a dance, sometimes you love the other person more and sometimes they love you more. As long as there is love between you, hanging in the air, then it sustains. Rossetti perfectly captures this delicate balancing act.
16. Love’s Labour’s Lost (Sonnet) by William Shakespeare
Did not the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye,
‘Gainst whom the world cannot hold argument,
Persuade my heart to this false perjury?
Vows for thee broke deserve not punishment.
A woman I forswore; but I will prove,
Thou being a goddess, I forswore not thee:
My vow was earthly, thou a heavenly love;
Thy grace being gain’d cures all disgrace in me.
Vows are but breath, and breath a vapour is:
Then thou, fair sun, which on my earth dost shine,
Exhal’st this vapour-vow; in thee it is:
If broken, then it is no fault of mine.
If by me broke, what fool is not so wise
To lose an oath to win a paradise?
This sonnet actually appears in Shakespeare’s comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost, and is spoken by the King of Navarre. It describes the theme of unfulfilled love and the difficulties of courtship: two themes that are central to the play. It is written in Shakespearean sonnet form (14 lines, ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme scheme), following the well known structure of problem and resolution which I have often seen in Shakespeare’s sonnets.
17. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (often interpreted as a love poem)
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
While Frost's poem could describe any difficult crossroads, to me it reads as a poem is about love (or, at least, passion!) and making a brave choice. It can be terrifying to reveal your inner feelings to someone you admire. But what happens if you never even let them know? This poem by Frost really urges us to be courageous.
18. Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
But we were loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
But we were loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
But we were loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
This is one of Poe’s most famous poems and is thought to be inspired by Poe’s experience of the death of his young wife Virginia Clemm. It was more common for people to die young back in the 1800s. Many poets, like Poe, lived through some tragic times, which often made love even more precious.
19. Song ("Oh roses for the flush of youth") by Christina Rossetti
Oh roses for the flush of youth,
And laurel for the perfect prime;
But pluck an ivy branch for me
Grown old before my time.
Oh violets for the grave of youth,
And bay for those dead in their prime;
Give me the withered leaves I chose
Before in the olden time.
This poem definitely makes me think of how precious life is. Life and love are so fleeting. Just like a flower, we bloom only just for a short time. Then time moves on and we wither away. This poem has powerful imagery. The metaphor of the withering garden reminds me that we should really make the most of our time on this earth.
20. Meeting at Night by Robert Browning
The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!
It’s common knowledge that this poem was inspired by Browning’s clandestine relationship with Elizabeth Barrett, whom he married in 1846. Barrett's family didn’t approve of Browning and so they had to carry on their relationship in secret. You can sense the yearning in Browning’s evocative language.
21. Spring by Christina Rossetti
There is no time like Spring,
When life’s alive in everything,
Before new nestlings sing,
Before cleft swallows speed their journey back
Along the trackless track –
God guides their wing,
He spreads their table that they nothing lack, –
Before the daisy grows a common flower
Before the sun has power
To scorch the world up in his noontide hour.
There is no time like Spring,
Like Spring that passes by;
There is no life like Spring-life born to die,
Piercing the sod,
Clothing the uncouth clod,
Hatched in the nest,
Fledged on the windy bough,
Strong on the wing:
There is no time like Spring that passes by,
Now newly born, and now
Hastening to die.
Rossetti is very well known for her beautiful poems about renewal and beauty. She often uses imagery from nature to convey the temporary nature of life, love and beauty. There is life and joy in spring, and she communicates this with visions of flowers, birds, and sunlight. While spring is the season for lovers, this poem reminds us that life is brief.
22. Love and Friendship by Emily Brontë
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 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 still may leave thy garland green.
Brontë (1818-1848) is a writer of gothic literature, and is most well known for her famous novel Wuthering Heights. This classic poem uses a nature metaphor to compare love and friendship. Romantic love is symbolized by the “wild rose-briar” and friendship is represented by the “holly tree”. While love is beautiful, it is often temporary - while on the other hand friendship can be strong and enduring.
23. Love Is a Fire that Burns Unseen by Luís Vaz de Camões
Love is a fire that burns unseen,
a wound that aches yet isn’t felt,
an always discontent contentment,
a pain that rages without hurting.
Camões is a 16th-century Portuguese poet. He is best known for his epic work "Os Lusíadas" (The Lusiads). This poem is all about the paradoxical nature of life. It can be powerful within us, yet totally invisible to others. This love can cause us so much pain. Though it can bring us so much joy it can also bring us so much suffering. I love how passionate this poem is.
24. A Valentine by Edgar Allan Poe
For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes
Brightly expressive as the tints of evening skies,
Golden, and orient as the Star of Day,
Are beaming in the crown of beauty’s brow;
Her heart is like the fount of May,
And in the world of heart's delay
I see her stand with silent grace—
Who shall declare her name or trace?
This love poem is fascinating in that it contains a hidden acrostic message. When read in a particular way, the first letter of each line spells out “Frances Sargent Osgood”, a poet with whom Poe had an intimate and possibly romantic relationship. Poe often used codes, puzzles and hidden messages in his poems.
25. To the Moon by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Art thou pale for weariness
Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless
Among the stars that have a different birth, —
And ever changing, like a joyless eye
That finds no object worth its constancy?
Shelley was a leading Romantic poet, and he often explored themes of nature, emotion, and beauty. The obsession with celestial imagery and melancholy really come across through the symbolic use of the moon. Everyone understands the lonely feeling of the moon, as it travels alone through the night sky. Shelley lived a turbulent life filled with loss and longing, and this is perfectly captured in this poem.
26. Love Me by Christina Rossetti
Love me, for I love you—
And answer me,
Love me, for I love you—
Till earth and sea
Shall be no more.
Rossetti was born in London, England, into an artistic and literary Italian family. Her father, Gabriele Rossetti, was also a poet and political exile from Italy. Her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, grew up to become a famous Pre-Raphaelite painter and poet. She was homeschooled and took on the artistic and intellectual approach to life from her parents.
27. Go, Lovely Rose by Edmund Waller
Go, lovely Rose—
Tell her that wastes her time and me,
That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be.
Tell her that’s young,
And shuns to have her graces spied,
That hadst thou sprung
In deserts, where no men abide,
Thou must have uncommended died.
Small is the worth
Of beauty from the light retired;
Bid her come forth,
Suffer herself to be desired,
And not blush so to be admired.
Then die—that she
The common fate of all things rare
May read in thee:
How small a part of time they share
That are so wondrous sweet and fair!
This is another “carpe diem” (“seize the day”) poem. This one urges a young lady to recognize her beauty and to not let it go to waste by hiding herself away. The use of the rose as a visual metaphor communicates the fragility, beauty, and ephemeral nature of love.
28. Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope
Oh, that I knew how to show the passion
I feel!
I wish I could be as serene as the coldest water.
But love, I know, is something that must have all
The tenderness and sweet despair in it—
I’ll return; let me return.
This poem is about two real-life 12th century lovers, Heloise and Abelard. They had a beautiful affair that ended in forced separation, when Abelard became a monk and Heloise a nun. Years later, Heloise couldn’t stop thinking about Abelard. You can feel the anguish in her words.
29. Love One Another by Kahlil Gibran
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous,
But let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone
Though they quiver with the same music.
This book is an excerpt from Gibran’s well known book The Prophet (1923). This work feels so relevant to me personally. It’s a collection of beautiful essays that explore topics ranging from love and marriage to freedom and spirituality. Gibran was heavily influenced by Sufi philosophy and Christian mysticism that recognizes love as a divine force.
30. "To Celia" by Ben Jonson
Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will not ask for wine;
The moon may shine on the world,
But for me, your glance is divine
Jonson was a renowned Jacobean poet, and one of the most influential English playwrights of his era. He was a peer of Shakespeare, and was very influenced by classical literature - especially Latin and Greek texts. He loved to incorporate works of Roman poets like Horace and Ovid in his own poetry. The identity of “Celia” is in debate, but she obviously made an impact on him!
31. Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
Though this poem is dedicated to nature, I actually find it really romantic. Manley Hopkins uses a curtal sonnet form. This entails a shortened sonnet, consisting of 10½ lines instead of the usual 14. I don’t think that nature is one to conform, and so the rule break is perfect for the subject matter. Like romance, I think nature is best when it’s wild.
32. In the Stillness By John Clare
In the stillness of the morning,
When the world is fresh and bright,
And the dew-drops, sweetly forming,
Glisten in the golden light.
The birds are singing high above,
And the flowers are all in bloom,
While I sit and think of love
In this peaceful, quiet room.
The world is full of peace and rest,
And my heart is full of bliss,
For in this stillness I am blessed
By the joy of a love like this.
As I was saying earlier, I really think that poems about nature are very romantic. When I think of love, I almost always think of things like the night sky, roses, an open field, the vast ocean, or a beautiful garden. Things like this do make my heart full, and this poem perfectly captures that.
33. Love by Kahlil Gibran
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Gibran is one of my favorite poets. This poem is all about how true love is constant and not changed by circumstances. I think that’s the real challenge in a modern relationship today. There is just so much going on out there. Is it possible to love someone forever and have that love be as steady as a rock? I suppose that’s what the commitment of marriage is all about: providing that kind of guarantee.
34. The Soul Selects Her Own Society by Emily Dickinson
The Soul selects her own Society—
Then—shuts the Door—
To her divine Majority—
Present no more—
Unmoved—she notes the Chariots—pausing—
At her low Gate—
Unmoved—an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat—
I've known her from an ample nation—
Choose One—
Then—close the Valves of her attention—
Like Stone—
Honestly I feel like this poem is perfect for the modern woman. They are strong, they are independent and self-sufficient. I do wish I were a bit more in control of my senses though, I find I get too easily swayed by what’s happening around me. This is a poem about the kind of woman I’d like to be.
35. Married Love by Guan Daosheng
You and I
Have so much love,
That it
Burns like a fire,
In which we bake a lump of clay
Molded into a figure of you
And a figure of me.
I really love the clay metaphor in this poem. In an ideal life together, a husband and wife would form the most perfect sculpture. There’s just something so certain about marriage, and I really do believe it is forever. I hope one day I can find my “special someone” to spend the rest of my life with.
36. The Good-Morrow by John Donne
I wonder by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the seven sleepers' den?
'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be;
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.
And now good morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to others, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.
My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.
This poem by John Donne is his most famous metaphysical love poem. It explores the theme of love as a transformational force that helps lovers awaken from ignorance into a beautiful new existence together. I agree, love can be transformational at a spiritual level.
37. Love's Secret by William Blake
Never seek to tell thy love,
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind does move
Silently, invisibly.
In this poem, Blake expresses caution about telling your love about your feelings for them when the love “can never be”. It seems that from his perspective if the love is meant to be, it will be. Personally though I always think that if you like someone, you should pursue it. Life is too short to keep it a secret.
38. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle,
Embroider’d all with leaves of myrtle.
A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair linèd slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold.
A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.
The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.
This is one of the most famous examples of pastoral poetry from the Elizabethan era. What is “pastoral” poetry? It’s all about romanticizing farm life in the country. I have a few friends who actually live the farm life, and they would love this poem. There’s something really sweet about tending to the sheep in a field. This is kind of the ideal poem for your homesteading lover.
39. To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell
Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down and think which way
To walk and pass our long love’s day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side
Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow;
A hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, lady, you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.
But at my back I always hear
Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song: then worms shall try
That long-preserved virginity,
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust.
The grave’s a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.
Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may,
And now, like amorous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour,
Than languish in his slow-chapped power.
Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Through the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
I love this poem, because it’s all about seizing the day (“carpe diem”). Life is short isn’t it?! We’re all going to die one day, and who knows - that day could be sooner than we expect! So why not give into temptations!? The poet Andrew Marvell is a bit lesser known. But still this is one of the most well known and studied poems about seduction.
40. Love by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
All thoughts, all passions, all delights,
Whatever stirs this mortal frame,
All are but ministers of Love,
And feed his sacred flame.
Oft in my waking dreams do I
Live o’er again that happy hour,
When midway on the mount I lay,
Beside the ruined tower.
The moonshine, stealing o’er the scene,
Had blended with the lights of eve;
And she was there, my hope, my joy,
My own dear Genevieve!
She leant against the armèd man,
The statue of the armèd knight;
She stood and listened to my lay,
Amid the lingering light.
Few sorrows hath she of her own,
My hope! my joy! my Genevieve!
She loves me best whene’er I sing
The songs that make her grieve.
I played a soft and doleful air,
I sang an old and moving story—
An old rude song, that suited well
That ruin wild and hoary.
She listened with a flitting blush,
With downcast eyes and modest grace;
For well she knew, I could not choose
But gaze upon her face.
I told her of the Knight that wore
Upon his shield a burning brand;
And that for ten long years he wooed
The Lady of the Land.
I told her how he pined: and, ah!
The deep, the low, the pleading tone
With which I sang another’s love,
Interpreted my own.
She listened with a flitting blush,
With downcast eyes and modest grace;
And she forgave me that I gazed,
Too fondly on her face!
But when I told the cruel scorn
Which crazed that bold and lovely Knight,
And that he crossed the mountain-woods,
Nor rested day nor night;
That sometimes from the savage den,
And sometimes from the darksome shade,
And sometimes starting up at once
In green and sunny glade,—
There came and looked him in the face
An angel beautiful and bright;
And that he knew it was a Fiend,
This miserable Knight!
And that unknowing what he did,
He leaped amid a murderous band,
And saved from outrage worse than death
The Lady of the Land;
And how she wept, and clasped his knees;
And how she tended him in vain;
And ever strove to expiate
The scorn that crazed his brain;
And that she nursed him in a cave;
And how his madness went away,
When on the yellow forest leaves
A dying man he lay;
His dying words—but when I reached
That tenderest strain of all the ditty,
My faltering voice and pausing harp
Disturbed her soul with pity!
All impulses of soul and sense
Had thrilled my guileless Genevieve;
The music and the doleful tale,
The rich and balmy eve;
And hopes, and fears that kindle hope,
An undistinguishable throng,
And gentle wishes long subdued,
Subdued and cherished long!
She wept with pity and delight,
She blushed with love and virgin shame;
And like the murmur of a dream,
I heard her breathe my name.
Her bosom heaved—she stepped aside,
As conscious of my look she stepped—
Then suddenly, with timorous eye,
She fled to me and wept.
She half enclosed me with her arms,
She pressed me with a meek embrace;
And bending back her head, looked up,
And gazed upon my face.
’Twas partly love, and partly fear,
And partly ’twas a bashful art,
That I might rather feel than see
The swelling of her heart.
I calmed her fears, and she was calm,
And told her love with virgin pride;
And so I won my Genevieve,
My bright and beauteous Bride.
This poem really embodies the ideals of Romanticism. The deep feelings, nature, and the telling of a story. It’s so intense isn’t it? Did people feel more intensely back then? Or did the poets just express it better? I feel like in our modern times men don’t really express such deep feelings about the woman they love. This is one reason I love going back to the older poets. They just weren’t afraid to put their heart on their sleeves.
Wrapping Up
We hope you enjoyed browsing through our collection of love poems for her. These heartfelt words aim to help you express your love and devotion to your girlfriend or wife, with the intention of making her feel special and cherished. Try sharing one with her and see how it resonates!
If you're looking for more ways to express your love to your special woman, then you also might be interested in these other pages.
Love Poems
Love Quotes for Her
Love Messages
Love Messages for Her
Good Morning Messages for Her
Love Letters for Her
Paragraphs for Her
Funny Love Quotes
Short Love Quotes
Anniversary Poems
Anniversary Quotes
Anniversary Wishes
Printable Love Coupons
Printable Anniversary Cards
