Love Poems That Say What Your Heart Can't

Throughout history, language in the form of metaphors, haikus, love poems, and sonnets has often been used to describe the human experience of falling in love. Sometimes, the intensity of romantic love can leave us feeling speechless and unsure of how to accurately explain our deep feelings for another. In cases like this, a little help from the best love poems might just do the trick.

The power of love poetry 

A few of the most relatable and recognizable poems about love to consider may include “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe, “Love Sonnet XI” by Pablo Neruda, and “Come, and Be My Baby” by Maya Angelou. 

If you find yourself frequently having trouble communicating with your loved ones, you might consider working with a therapist online or in-person to learn helpful communication skills and address any underlying challenges associated with overwhelming modern life and love.

Famous classic and contemporary love poems

Historians note that the art of poetry likely predates the creation of language itself. As language has developed, poetry has grown and changed along with it. 

The following top ten list of love poems may include a little something for everyone. From classic and contemporary love poems to lyrical poetry and monologue-style poems, here are 19 of the most relatable poems centered on the idea of love.

1. “Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day” (Sonnet 18) by William Shakespeare

This iconic love poem compares the subject of a passionate love affair to the merciless beauty of a summer day with a rather whimsical nature. Even the title, “Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day” speaks bounds to the romantic love expressed within. Viewed as one of the best pieces of English poetry, Shakespeare’s sonnet captures the full picture of love.

2.  “How Do I Love Thee” (Sonnet 43) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

This quintessential love poem penned by classic poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning was written amidst her courtship with fellow renowned Victorian poet Robert Browning. This gorgeous sonnet can describe a passionate and true love that knows no bounds.

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. 

3.  “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allen Poe

Possibly his most recognizable work aside from “The Raven,” Edgar Allen Poe explores the depths of romantic love while maintaining his archetypal air of darkness in this classic poem. 

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 winged seraphs of heaven

Laughed loud at her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsman came

And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,

Went laughing at her and me—

Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,

In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

Of those who were older than we—

Of many far wiser than we—

And neither the laughter in heaven above,

Nor the demons down under the sea,

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:

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 her sepulcher there by the sea,

In her tomb by the sounding sea.

4.  “Ah Moon – And Star!” by Emily Dickinson

This brief yet beautifully romantic poem by remarkable wordsmith Emily Dickinson draws a comparison between herself and her lover to that of the moon and the stars. 

Ah, Moon — and Star!

You are very far —

But were no one

Farther than you —

Do you think I'd stop

For a Firmament —

Or a Cubit — or so?

I could borrow a Bonnet

Of the Lark —

And a Chamois' Silver Boot —

And a stirrup of an Antelope —

And be with you — Tonight!

But, Moon, and Star,

Though you're very far —

There is one — farther than you —

He — is more than a firmament — from Me —

So I can never go!

5.  “Love Sonnet XI” by Pablo Neruda

Famed Chilean poet and diplomat Pablo Neruda dives into the intensity of longing in this beautiful piece. Neruda had numerous turbulent love affairs, and the poem explores the depths and desires of passionate or sexual love compared to romatic love.

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.

Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.

Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day

I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,

your hands the color of a savage harvest,

hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,

I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,

the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,

I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,

hunting for you, for your hot heart,

like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

5.  "[I Carry Your Heart With Me (I Carry It In]” by E.E. Cummings

This American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright was a man of many talents and one of the most prolific twentieth-century poets. Cummings’ love poetry describes the miraculous feeling of being entirely intertwined with the one you love.  

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 the 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)

6.  “Come, And Be My Baby” by Maya Angelou

One of the most well-recognized poets of all time and recipient of the 2011 Presidential Medal of Honor, Maya Angelou beautifully captures a warm, comforting message to a love who has fallen on hard times. 

The highway is full of big cars going nowhere fast

And folks is smoking anything that'll burn

Some people wrap their lives around a cocktail glass

And you sit wondering

where you're going to turn.

I got it.

Come. And be my baby.

Some prophets say the world is gonna end tomorrow

But others say we've got a week or two

The paper is full of every kind of blooming horror

And you sit wondering

what you're gonna do.

I got it.

Come. And be my baby.

7.  “Fons” by Pura López-Colomé 

Born in Mexico City, author and contemporary poet Pura López-Colomé effortlessly combines earthly elements and the wonders of love in this piece. 

Reanimated, spirit restored, 

reincorporated, body restored, 

I contemplate between dreams 

the scene I've stolen 

like the one who took fire, 

like the one who opened the devil box 

out of curiosity, 

like the one who saw her equal 

and her life's love 

were the same and so effortlessly 

brought them together. 

I took exactly

what was not mine, 

with my eyes. 

I saw the sea inside you:

on your surface, mud. 

I kissed you like a shipwreck, 

like one who insufflates the word. 

With my lips I traveled 

that entire continent, 

Adam, from dirt, Nothing. 

I knew myself in your substance, 

grounded there, 

emitting aromatic fumes, 

an amatory banquet of ashes.

8.  “Anyone But You” by Anna J. Arredondo

Pennsylvania native and self-described poet by preference, Anna J. Arredondo skillfully sums up the spirit of desire with stunning brevity. 

The phone may ring;

The call will bring

Anyone but you.

The mail will come;

It will be from

Anyone but you.

A text may buzz;

I’m sure it was

Anyone but you.

Oh, this is dire;

I don’t desire

Anyone but you.

9.  “My Sonnet As Texted” by Carl Kinsky

Written by a country lawyer residing in the state of Missouri, Carl Kinsky offers a short, sweet, and modern take on unattainable love through lines depicting simple happiness. 

Her face, uplit as she scrolls through her phone,

no feelings shown, she wears light like a mask.

Have we two lives we discuss? Is each one’s own?

Afraid that I know, I’m too scared to ask.

I stay in shadows, silent, statue still,

and watch her phone’s glow wash across her face.

A dancing light, love alters course at will;

at whim, it changes distance, strength, and pace.

Her Facebook friends discuss their most liked new memes.

She stares intensely. She can’t know I’m here,

can’t know my fears, just theirs, their hopes, their dreams.

Remote though she appears, she stands so near.

My sonnet’s sent. She smiles. Shade turns to shine.

I’m part of her life while she’s all of mine.

10.  “First Rendezvous” by Amjad Islam Amjad (translated, original in Urdu)

This poem reflects on how being in love can be seen as the most important thing in the world.

This story of the earth

is as old as the universe,

as old as the birth

of the first day and night.

This story of the sky

is included in the words we casually uttered,

you and I,

and yet it remains incomplete, till the end of sight.

This earth and all the scenes it contains

remain witnesses to the moment

when you first held my hand

as we watched the world unfolding, together.

This world

became the focus

for the first rendezvous

between us.

11.  "I loved you first: but afterwards your love" by Christina Rossetti

This poem emphasizes how when two people are in love, they become two parts of the same whole.

Poca favilla gran fiamma seconda. – Dante

Ogni altra cosa, ogni pensier va fore,

E sol ivi con voi rimansi amore. – Petrarca

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 –

Nay, weights and measures do us both a wrong.

For verily love knows not ‘mine’ or ‘thine;’

With separate ‘I’ and ‘thou’ free love has done,

For one is both and both are one in love:

Rich love knows nought of ‘thine that is not mine;’

Both have the strength and both the length thereof,

Both of us, of the love which makes us one.

12.  “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns

Robert Burns's profound love is expressed in this famous poem wherein he uses rich imagery to get across that his love will last longer than human life itself. 

O my Luve is like a red, red rose

   That’s newly sprung in June;

O my Luve is like the melody

   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;

I will love 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.

13.  “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet

As it says In this famous poem by Anne Bradstreet thy love is such I can no way repay is a sweet ode to what is surely a happy and fulfilling marriage.

If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me ye women if you can.

I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,

Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

My love is such that rivers cannot quench,

Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.

Thy love is such I can no way repay;

The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.

Then while we live, in love let’s so persever,

That when we live no more we may live ever.

14.  “Beautiful Signor” by Cyrus Cassells

This piece from the Cyrus Cassells poetry archive is set against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic and intended to remind people of the power of romantic love.

Whenever we wake,

still joined, enraptured—

at the window,

each clear night’s finish

the black pulse of dominoes

dropping to land;

whenever we embrace,

haunted, upwelling,

I know

a reunion is taking place&mdash

Hear me when I say

our love’s not meant to be

an opiate;

helpmate,

you are the reachable mirror

that dares me to risk

the caravan back

to the apogee, the longed-for

arms of the Beloved—

Dusks of paperwhites,

dusks of jasmine,

intimate beyond belief

beautiful Signor

no dread of nakedness

beautiful Signor

my long ship,

my opulence,

my garland

beautiful Signor

extinguishing the beggar’s tin,

the wind of longing

beautiful Signor

laving the ruined country,

the heart wedded to war

beautiful Signor

the kiln-blaze

in my body,

the turning heaven

beautiful Signor

you cover me with pollen

beautiful Signor

into your sweet mouth—

This is the taproot:

against all strictures,

desecrations,

I’ll never renounce,

never relinquish

the first radiance, the first

moment you took my hand—

This is the endless wanderlust:

dervish,

yours is the April upon April love

that kept me spinning even beyond

your eventful arms

toward the unsurpassed:

the one vast claiming heart,

the glimmering,

the beautiful and revealed Signor.

15. “Heart to Heart” by Rite Dove

In this poem, Rita Dove eloquently captures what it means to give your heart to someone.

It's neither red

nor sweet.

It doesn't melt

or turn over,

break or harden,

so it can't feel

pain,

yearning,

regret.

It doesn't have

a tip to spin on,

it isn't even

shapely—

just a thick clutch

of muscle,

lopsided,

mute. Still,

I feel it inside

its cage sounding

a dull tattoo:

I want, I want—

but I can't open it:

there's no key.

I can't wear it

on my sleeve,

or tell you from

the bottom of it

how I feel. Here,

it's all yours, now—

but you'll have

to take me,

Too.

16.  “Bird-Understander” by Craig Arnold

In this selection from Craig Arnold's poetry, he writes about a moment that makes him fall in love even more.

Of many reasons I love you here is one

the way you write me from the gate at the airport

so I can tell you everything will be alright

so you can tell me there is a bird

trapped in the terminal      all the people

ignoring it       because they do not know

what to do with it       except to leave it alone

until it scares itself to death

it makes you terribly terribly sad

You wish you could take the bird outside

and set it free or       (failing that)

call a bird-understander

to come help the bird

All you can do is notice the bird

and feel for the bird       and write

to tell me how language feels

impossibly useless

but you are wrong

You are a bird-understander

better than I could ever be

who make so many noises

and call them song

These are your own words

your way of noticing

and saying plainly

of not turning away

from hurt

you have offered them

to me       I am only

giving them back

if only I could show you

how very useless

they are not

17. “Before You Came” by Faiz Ahmed Faiz

In this poem, Faiz writes about how his view of everything changes after falling in love and how his lover helps him see who he really is. 

Before you came,

things were as they should be:

the sky was the dead-end of sight,

the road was just a road, wine merely wine.

Now everything is like my heart,

a color at the edge of blood:

the grey of your absence, the color of poison, of thorns,

the gold when we meet, the season ablaze,

the yellow of autumn, the red of flowers, of flames,

and the black when you cover the earth

with the coal of dead fires.

And the sky, the road, the glass of wine?

The sky is a shirt wet with tears,

the road a vein about to break,

and the glass of wine a mirror in which

the sky, the road, the world keep changing.

Don't leave now that you're here—

Stay. So the world may become like itself again:

so the sky may be the sky,

the road a road,

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

18.  “Sthandwa sami (my beloved, isiZulu)” by Yrsa Daley-Ward

This poem is from Daley-Ward’s collection “Bone,” which reflects on things in life pared down to their essence, allowing them to become more universal. It is a raw, honest look at love.

In the early hours of this morning it was far too hot for anyone to sleep.

You told me I was strange and kissed me

sunk your teeth into my soft bottom lip twice. So hard I thought you drew blood.

I keep getting the scary feeling that if you look at me for long enough you may see that I have a thousand fears

just like your mother who never really wanted you to leave

meanwhile mina I am catching up on the sleep that we missed and waiting patiently to feel normal again.

my thoughts about you are frightening but precise

I can see the house on the hill where we make our own vegetables out back

and drink warm wine out of jam jars

and sing songs in the kitchen until the sun comes up

wena you make me feel like myself again.

Myself before I knew any solid reasons to be afraid

Last night you give me the space to dream bigger than the single bed

and brighter than the morning

you laughed in your sleep and I cried in mine

and this afternoon we might be tired because the sun is fierce today

and too much happened between midnight and now

But bhabha you are terrifying and brilliant so I am the kind of woman who is already teaching my body to miss yours

without craving.

I am the type of woman who is teaching my heart to miss yours without failing.

And I am quite sure that you will find this unnecessary

but I am already searching for a place to run to and hide when you say,

“Uthando lwami. I’m ready. Are you?”

You know that I would gladly drive with you to the other side of the world with only the clothes I am wearing

and the loose change  and empty peanut shells in my purse.

kodwa every time you leave the room I worry.

and think that perhaps I have imagined you.

or maybe you have imagined me.

Seeking online therapy to cope

Accurately expressing your feelings of love to a partner can be challenging. If you struggle to find the right words or to embrace vulnerability when it comes to love and relationships, a therapist may help you get to the root of the issue and learn effective communication skills – like learning to recite love poetry to a dear and loving husband, wife, or partner.

Additionally, a therapist can help with more than finding and reciting your favorite poems. Love is a complex topic that can stir up different emotions and reactions for many of us depending on our childhood and life experiences, and speaking to a trained professional about this may help you better understand yourself. 

If you’re having trouble expressing yourself to the people about whom you care, you may also find it hard to open up to a therapist face-to-face about how overwhelming modern life can feel. If this is the case for you, please know that online therapy can provide an effective and, oftentimes, more flexible alternative to in-person therapy. 

Effectiveness of online therapy

This study looked at the efficacy of online therapy in comparison to in-person therapy. It found that both types of therapy can be effective in treating a variety of challenges and mental health concerns. Please don’t hesitate to reach out for the help you deserve if you believe you’d benefit from working with a licensed mental health professional.