The Best Love Poems of All Time

I think that the best poem of love is John Donn's "Plea".
He subtly highlights the true tender nature of man and vicious nature of woman hahahahah
I'm joking....
But i love this poem very much!

I'm sure someone will have already posted this, but here it is, an obvious choice and a beautiful poem.

EE 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)

Of course I don't know all the love poems ever written; but of those I do know, Poe's Annabel Lee holds a special place in my imagination:

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling--my darling--my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

This works in so many ways on so many levels, from the sheer rhythm and music of the words, to the mood painting and imaginative tropes: this is great art and sincere human emotion: magnificent!

Sebas. Melmoth, I came to this thread with the intention of posting the exact same poem:). I find Annabel Lee to be to thoroughly enthralling: except from the wondrous use of language, with flows so easily, I find in it this marvelous evolution of the ordinary and mediocre into something heavenly (Annabel Lee died of a cold and Poe was able to make a great declaration of love out of it)...

I received a collection of Poe's poems from someone very dear to me and they hold a double significance for me, but I remember the first time I read Annabel Lee to my class during lunch break and they were all eyes and ears. I felt like love really knows how to get you!

Rilke's Duino Elegies some of the most beautiful verse ever written. Deep, enchanting and engaging, it must be read repeatedly to gain any appreciation for it.

its my list

Sonnet 116 - William Shakespeare
Love One Another - Kahlil Gibran
Meeting at Night - Robert Browning
My River - Emily Dickinson
Love's Philosophy - Percy Bysshe Shelley
Maud - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Annabelle Lee - Edgar Allan Poe
Bright Star, Would I Were Steadfast as Thou Art - John Keats
To His Coy Mistress - Andrew Marvell

Gaius Valerius Catullus

Let’s Live and Love: to Lesbia

Let us live, my Lesbia, let us love,
and all the words of the old, and so moral,
may they be worth less than nothing to us!
Suns may set, and suns may rise again:
but when our brief light has set,
night is one long everlasting sleep.
Give me a thousand kisses, a hundred more,
another thousand, and another hundred,
and, when we’ve counted up the many thousands,
confuse them so as not to know them all,
so that no enemy may cast an evil eye,
by knowing that there were so many kisses.

It's very clear.
Our Love is here to stay.
Not for a year,
But ever and a day.
The radio and the telephone
And the movies that we know,
May just be passing fancies
And in time may go.
But oh my dear
Our love is here to stay
Together we're
Going a long, long way.
In time The Rockies may crumble
Gibraltar may tumble.
They're only made of clay.
But our love is here to stay.

I think it's by Ira Gershwin. Such an American poem. Perfect for the period which I take to be the thirties. Love it. And the tune that Gershwin wrote was pretty good too.

I too am a poetry enthusiast and have enjoyed much of the poetry mention by other members in this thread however i have recently moved to China and have been dabbling in some Chinese classic poetry - one of my favorites is a writer named Li Bai - for those interested why not check out a poem or two of this Tang Dynasty poets pieces of work (English translations can easily found on net ) - Erin

Wendy Cope is one of my favourites

Valentine

My heart has made its mind up
And I’m afraid it’s you.
Whatever you’ve got lined up,
My heart has made its mind up
And if you can’t be signed up
This year, next year will do.
My heart has made its mind up

And I’m afraid it’s you.

http://www.lovepoems-lovepoetry.com/...by-wendy-cope/

Well, I know I'm a bit late to this party. But I am now several hours invested in it, so I thought I'd take the liberty to revive the thread at the risk of annoying people and cast a vote.

This is my favorite love poem—or at least it is until I finish considering the contention this thread has offered.



My Picture
By Abraham Cowley

Here, take my likeness with you, whilst 'tis so;
For when from hence you go,
The next sun’s rising will behold
Me pale, and lean, and old.
The man who did this picture draw,
Will swear next day my face he never saw.

I really believe, within a while,
If you upon this shadow smile,
Your presence will such vigour give,
(Your presence which makes all things live)
And absence so much alter me,
This will the substance, I the shadow be.

When from your well-wrought cabinet you take it,
And your bright looks awake it;
Ah, be not frighted, if you see,
The new-soul'd picture gaze on thee,
And hear it breathe a sigh or two;
For those are the first things that it will do.

My rival-image will be then thought blest,
And laugh at me as dispossessed;
But, thou, who (if I know thee right)
I’th’ substance does not much delight,
Wilt rather send again for me.
Who then shall but my picture’s picture be.

I hope I don't annoy anyone by posting this because it's not in English. I'd translate it, but it would sound tacky: in my opinion this exquisite sonnet by Petrarch is untranslatable because the precise way he uses the Italian language constitutes the art and beauty of this piece.

Quando fra l'altre donne ad ora ad ora
Amor vien nel bel viso di costei,
quanto ciascuna è men bella di lei
tanto cresce 'l desio che m'innamora.

I' benedico il loco e 'l tempo et l'ora
che sí alto miraron gli occhi mei,
et dico: Anima, assai ringratiar dêi
che fosti a tanto honor degnata allora.

Da lei ti vèn l'amoroso pensero,
che mentre 'l segui al sommo ben t'invia,
pocho prezando quel ch'ogni huom desia;

da lei vien l'animosa leggiadria
ch'al ciel ti scorge per destro sentero,
sí ch'i' vo già de la speranza altero.

This may now be my favorite! Thank you.

Believe me, if all those endearing young charms
Which I gaze on so fondly today,
Were to change by tomorrow, and fleet in my arms
Like fairy gifts fading away;
Thou wouldst still be adored
As this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will.
And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still.

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,
And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,
That the fervour and faith of a soul can be known,
To which time will but make thee more dear.
No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close,
As the sun-flower turns on her god, when he sets,
The same look which she turned when he rose.

Hi,

This is a poem I have written, looking forward to reading your opinions about it:

What would you do if you wake up thirsty in the middle of night………….
Searching, And no water was around………….
What would you do if you lost the blanket warms you in a winter night………..
If you lost the only candle and you alone in the dark…………
If you were alive and part of your body taken apart…………..
If you lost the love of your life……………
What would you do………..
Don't tell me it's life…………
Same words, same expressions, over, and over, I said to others all my life…………..
Now, how can I breathe……
How can I live……………
And, just for her I was alive……..
Every morning counting seconds to see her smile………….
To see the life doors opening for me through her eyes…………..
To see the wind blowing her hair, on my face, flies………….
To walk me n her holding hands very tight…....
Just to feel the touch of her lips on my cheeks lies………..
If you lost the love of your life………….
What would you do……………
------------------------------------------------------------
Source: http://poemszm.blogspot.com/

Regards

Sorry, not a poem, but felt compelled to post this oldy, but goody:

I Corinthians 13:4

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.