A Collection of Love Poems for Your Valentine
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.” –William Shakespeare
It’s that time of year when words turn into Cupid’s arrows, striking hearts with poetic elegance. This Valentine’s Day, even the staunchest skeptics can’t resist the magic of love! The air hums with the melody of heartfelt sonnets and the unspoken whispers of devotion. We've gathered a collection of poems to share with your special someone—be it your partner, best friend, family member, or even your beloved pet. So, whether you're penning love notes on pastel-colored cards or reciting verses beneath the starlit sky, let poetry be the language of your heart. Click on the poem’s title below to read the full text!
“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.”
From “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns
“If you blame her, know that she blames you for choosing / Not her, but me. Love is never fair. But do we — should we — care?”
From “Semi-Splendid” by Tracy K. Smith, former U.S. Poet Laureate
“still, living like they orbit one another, / my grandfather, the planet, & grandma, his moon assigned / by some gravitational pull. they have loved long enough / for a working man to retire. grandma says she's not tired,"
From “the world is about to end and my grandparents are in love” by Kara Jackson, 2019-2020 U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate
“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.”
From “Sonnets from the Portuguese 43: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
“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!”
From “Love” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Outside the sun / has rolled up her rugs // and night strewn salt / across the sky. My heart /// is humming a tune / I haven’t heard in years!”
From “Flirtation” by Rita Dove, 1977 and 1989 NEA Literature Fellow, former U.S. Poet Laureate, and 2011 National Medal of Arts recipient
“the way her ankles go into the work boots / as she stands upon the ice chest; / the problem scrunched into her forehead; / the little kissable mouth / with the nail in it.”
From “Windchime” by Tony Hoagland
“a concordance of person, number, voice, / and place, strawberries spread through your name / as if it were budding shrubs, how you remind me / of some spring, the waters as cool and clear”
From “You, Therefore” by Reginald Shepherd, 1995 NEA Literature Fellow
