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Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love, and what better way to express your feelings than with heartfelt Valentine’s Day poems? From timeless classics to modern masterpieces, poetry captures the essence of love in ways that words alone often cannot. Whether you’re crafting a romantic card, writing a love letter, or simply seeking inspiration to share with your special someone, these 28 carefully selected Valentines poems are sure to touch the heart and soul. Dive into our comprehensive collection and find the perfect poem to make your Valentine’s Day unforgettable.
1. “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
One of the most beloved Valentines Day poems, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee?” eloquently expresses the depths and breadths of her love.
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 candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a 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,
2. “When You Are Old” by W. B. Yeats
W. B. Yeats’s poignant poem invites his beloved to reflect on their love in old age, ensuring his adoration endures.
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;
3. “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns
Robert Burns’s classic Valentine’s Day poem compares his love to a newly sprung red rose and a sweet melody, symbolizing enduring affection.
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.
4. “Sonnet 116” by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare’s Valentine’s poem defines the unwavering and eternal nature of true love, unaffected by time or obstacles.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. 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.
5. “I Loved You First” by Christina Rossetti
Christina Rossetti’s Valentine’s Day poem beautifully explores the complexities of love, highlighting the depth of her feelings.
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.
6. “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron
Lord Byron’s timeless Valentine’s poem celebrates the harmonious blend of inner goodness and outer beauty in a beloved.
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.
7. “If You Call Me” by Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu’s evocative Valentine’s Day poem captures the intensity of devotion and readiness to respond to her lover’s call.
If you call me I will come
Swifter, O my Love,
Than a trembling forest deer
Or a panting dove,
Swifter than a snake that flies
To the charmer’s thrall . . .
If you call me I will come
Fearless what befall.
8. “Wild Nights – Wild Nights!” by Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson’s passionate Valentine’s Day poem conveys the ecstasy and longing of a night spent with a loved one.
Wild nights – Wild nights!
Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!Futile – the winds –
To a Heart in port –
Done with the Compass –
Done with the Chart!Rowing in Eden –
Ah – the Sea!Might I but moor – tonight –
In thee!
9. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe’s romantic Valentine’s poem uses idyllic natural imagery to woo his beloved with promises of eternal love.
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.
10. “Unending Love” by Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore’s Valentine’s Day poem beautifully articulates an everlasting love that transcends lifetimes.
I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times…
In life after life, in age after age, forever.My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,
That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,
In life after life, in age after age, forever.
11. “Love’s Philosophy” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Valentine’s poem presents a playful argument for unity and love, drawing parallels with nature’s harmonious relationships.
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 spirit meet and mingle.Why not I with thine?—
12. “The Kiss” by Sara Teasdale
Sara Teasdale’s Valentine’s Day poem captures the profound significance of a first kiss, symbolizing eternal connection and transformation.
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?I sought the sea, she sent her winds to meet me,
They surged about me singing of the south—
I turned my head away to keep still holy
Your kiss upon my mouth.
13. “A Glimpse” by Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman’s Valentine’s Day poem celebrates the profound connection between two lovers, where a single glance suffices to convey deep love.
A long while, amid the noises of coming and going–of drinking and
oath and smutty jest,
There we two, content, happy in being together, speaking little,
perhaps not a word.
14. “A Marriage” by Mark Twain
Mark Twain’s touching Valentine’s poem reflects on marriage as a union that brings purpose, strength, and renewed beauty to life.
A marriage makes of two fractional lives a whole;
It gives two purposeless lives a work,
And doubles the strength of each to perform it.It gives to two questioning natures a reason for living
And something to live for.It will give new gladness to the sunshine,
A new fragrance to the flowers, a new beauty to the earth
And a new mystery to life.
15. “Songs of Love” by Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu’s Valentine’s Day poem collection offers a lyrical exploration of romantic love, perfect for expressing heartfelt emotions.
(Excerpt from “If You Call Me”)
If you call me I will come
Swifter, O my Love,
Than a trembling forest deer
Or a panting dove,
Swifter than a snake that flies
To the charmer’s thrall . . .
If you call me I will come
Fearless what befall.
16. “Evening Song” by Sidney Lanier
Sidney Lanier’s Valentine’s Day poem beautifully describes the serene and passionate moments shared between lovers at dusk.
Look off, dear Love, across the sallow sands,
And mark yon meeting of the sun and sea;
How long they kiss in sight of all the lands,
Ah! longer, longer we.Now, in the sea’s red vintage melts the sun
As Egypt’s pearl dissolved in rosy wine
And Cleopatra-night drinks all- ’tis done,
Love, lay thine hand in mine.Come forth, sweet stars, and comfort heaven’s heart,
Glimmer, ye waves, ’round else unlighted sands;
Oh night! divorce our sun and sky apart-
Never our lips, our hands.
17. “Love Is Enough” by William Morris
William Morris’s optimistic Valentine’s Day poem asserts that love is sufficient to overcome any worldly challenges.
Love is enough: though the world be a-waning,
And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining,
Though the skies be too dark for dim eyes to discover
The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder,
Though the hills be held shadows, and the sea a dark wonder,
And this day draw a veil over all deeds passed over,
Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter:
The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter
These lips and these eyes of the loved and the lover.
18. “Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare
Often paired with “Sonnet 116”, this Valentine’s Day poem beautifully immortalizes the beloved’s beauty through poetry.
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 dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
19. “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe’s hauntingly beautiful Valentine’s Day poem tells the tale of eternal love that transcends even death.
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.
20. “Love After Love” by Derek Walcott
Derek Walcott’s reflective Valentine’s Day poem encourages self-love and personal reconciliation, a profound take on the theme of love.
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
21. “i carry your heart with me(i carry it in)” by E.E. Cummings
E.E. Cummings’s iconic Valentine’s Day poem beautifully conveys the inseparable bond between lovers.
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
22. “Valentine” by Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy’s contemporary Valentine’s Day poem offers a modern twist on love, using symbolic imagery to convey deep emotions.
Not a red rose or a satin heart.
I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.
23. “Love” by Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda’s passionate Valentine’s Day poem explores the multifaceted nature of love, blending desire with deep emotional connection.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
So I love you because I know no other way
24. “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet
Anne Bradstreet’s heartfelt Valentine’s Day poem celebrates marital love and the deep bond shared between husband and wife.
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.
25. “Love Is Not All” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Valentine’s Day poem contemplates the enduring power of love despite its inability to solve all problems.
Love is not all:
It is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof
To keep the broken warm:And yet, to say the truth,
It looks not lonesome when it dies,
Because the listener is
A heart bereft of ears.
26. “Love Song” by William Blake
William Blake’s Valentine’s Day poem delves into the spiritual and transcendent aspects of love, blending the physical with the divine.
Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care;
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.
27. “Anniversary” by Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni’s modern Valentine’s Day poem celebrates the milestones and enduring commitment in a long-term relationship.
For our anniversary,
I want you to remember,
After all these years,
No matter how it feels,
Our love remains.
28. “To My Valentine” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s charming Valentine’s Day poem expresses unwavering love and admiration, perfect for sharing with a beloved.
So, may I love thee still?
When wealth and power are gone;
When silver’s finery
Gives place to purest gold,
And rose-red cheeks are pale,
And summer leaves are gone;Let me love thee still,
Let me cherish thee.
Why Choose Poems for Valentine’s Day?
Valentine’s Day poems offer a timeless and heartfelt way to express your emotions. Unlike fleeting gifts, poetry captures the essence of your feelings in a manner that resonates deeply with the soul. Whether you select a classic piece or pen your own verses, sharing a poem is a meaningful gesture that conveys love, admiration, and appreciation.
How to Share These Poems
- Handwritten Notes: Write your chosen poem in a beautiful card or on personalized stationery. The effort and personal touch add to the sentiment.
- Digital Messages: Share a poem via text, email, or social media. It’s a convenient way to express your feelings, especially for long-distance relationships.
- Public Reading: Recite a poem during a romantic dinner or a special moment. The spoken word can amplify the emotional impact.
- Framed Art: Print the poem and frame it as a keepsake. It serves as a lasting reminder of your love.
Final Thoughts
This collection of Valentines Day poems is designed to inspire and help you find the perfect words to express your love. From the eloquent verses of Shakespeare to the passionate lines of Neruda, each poem offers a unique perspective on love’s beauty and complexity. Choose the one that best reflects your feelings, and make this Valentine’s Day a memorable celebration of your relationship.
Looking for more romantic inspiration? Explore our collection of love quotes and Valentine’s Day gift ideas to complement your poetic gestures.
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