Enjoy Love Poems - Ancient to Present
Ancient Egypt
3,000 year-old papyrus
O my beautiful one,
I wish I were part of your affairs, like a wife
With your hand in mine your love would be returned.
I implore my heart:
"If my true love stays away tonight,
I shall be like someone already in the grave."
Are you not my health and my life?
How joyful is your good health
for the heart that seeks you!
Ancient Greek
Some There are who say that the fairest thing seen
by Sappho of Lesbos
translated by Richmond Lattimore
Some there are who say that the fairest thing seen
on the black earth is an array of horsemen
some, men marching; some would say ships: but I say
She whom one loves best is the loveliest.
Light were the work to make this plain to all,
since she, who surpassed in beauty all mortality,
Helen, once forsaking her lordly husband,
fled away to Troy-land across the water.
Not the thought of child or beloved parents
was remembered, after the Queen of Cyprus
won her at first sight.
Since young brides have hearts that can be persuaded
easily, light things, palpitate to passion
as am I, remembering Anaktoria
who has gone from me
and whose lovely walk and the shining pallor
of her face I would rather see before my
eyes that Lydis's chariots in all their glory
armored for battle.
by Sappho Greek female poet
written around 6th century
Ancient China
Looking at the Moon and Longing for One Far Away.
By Zhang Jiuling
Over the sea grows the moon bright
We gaze on it far, far apart
Lovers complain of long, long night
They rise and long for the dear heart
Candle blown out, fuller is light
My coat put on, I'm moist with dew.
As I can't hand you moonbeams white,
I go to bed to dream of you.
Ancient Rome
except from " Love and War"
Ovid (43 CE-17 CE)
Lovers all are soldiers, and Cupid has his campaigns:
I tell you, Atticus, lovers all are soldiers.
Youth is fit for war, and also fit for Venus.
Imagine an aged soldier, an elderly lover!
A general looks for spirit in his brave soldiery;
a pretty girl wants spirit in her companion.
Both stay up all night long, and each sleeps on the ground;
one guards his mistress's doorway, one his general's.
The soldier's lot requires far journeys; send his girl,
the zealous lover will follow her anywhere.
He'll cross the glowering mountains, the rivers swollen with storm;
he'll tread a pathway through the heaped-up snows;
and never whine of raging Eurus when he sets sail
or wait for stars propitious for his voyage.
Who but lovers and soldiers endure the chill of night,
and blizzards interspersed with driving rain?
The soldier reconnoiters among the dangerous foe; the lover spies to learn his rival's plans.
Ancient Egypt
3,000 year-old papyrus
 |
| Egyptian Love Poem |
O my beautiful one,
I wish I were part of your affairs, like a wife
With your hand in mine your love would be returned.
I implore my heart:
"If my true love stays away tonight,
I shall be like someone already in the grave."
Are you not my health and my life?
How joyful is your good health
for the heart that seeks you!
Ancient Greek
Some There are who say that the fairest thing seen
by Sappho of Lesbos
translated by Richmond Lattimore
Some there are who say that the fairest thing seen
on the black earth is an array of horsemen
some, men marching; some would say ships: but I say
She whom one loves best is the loveliest.
Light were the work to make this plain to all,
since she, who surpassed in beauty all mortality,
Helen, once forsaking her lordly husband,
fled away to Troy-land across the water.
Not the thought of child or beloved parents
was remembered, after the Queen of Cyprus
won her at first sight.
Since young brides have hearts that can be persuaded
easily, light things, palpitate to passion
as am I, remembering Anaktoria
who has gone from me
and whose lovely walk and the shining pallor
of her face I would rather see before my
eyes that Lydis's chariots in all their glory
armored for battle.
by Sappho Greek female poet
written around 6th century
As a wind in the mountains
assaults an oak,
Love shook my breast.
You came, Atthis, you did so good
You refreshed my heart that was burned by desire
Whiter than milk
Fresher than water
Softer than the finest veil.
assaults an oak,
Love shook my breast.
You came, Atthis, you did so good
You refreshed my heart that was burned by desire
Whiter than milk
Fresher than water
Softer than the finest veil.
Ancient China
Looking at the Moon and Longing for One Far Away.
By Zhang Jiuling
 |
| China Love Poem |
Over the sea grows the moon bright
We gaze on it far, far apart
Lovers complain of long, long night
They rise and long for the dear heart
Candle blown out, fuller is light
My coat put on, I'm moist with dew.
As I can't hand you moonbeams white,
I go to bed to dream of you.
Ancient Rome
except from " Love and War"
Ovid (43 CE-17 CE)
 |
| Roman Love |
Lovers all are soldiers, and Cupid has his campaigns:
I tell you, Atticus, lovers all are soldiers.
Youth is fit for war, and also fit for Venus.
Imagine an aged soldier, an elderly lover!
A general looks for spirit in his brave soldiery;
a pretty girl wants spirit in her companion.
Both stay up all night long, and each sleeps on the ground;
one guards his mistress's doorway, one his general's.
The soldier's lot requires far journeys; send his girl,
the zealous lover will follow her anywhere.
He'll cross the glowering mountains, the rivers swollen with storm;
he'll tread a pathway through the heaped-up snows;
and never whine of raging Eurus when he sets sail
or wait for stars propitious for his voyage.
Who but lovers and soldiers endure the chill of night,
and blizzards interspersed with driving rain?
The soldier reconnoiters among the dangerous foe; the lover spies to learn his rival's plans.
by Catullus
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.
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.
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day
by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
 |
| William Shakespeare Love Poem |
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 ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st 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.Christopher Marlow (1564-1593) Come Live With Me And Be My Love from "The Passionate Shepherd to His 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 mountains 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 Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle; A gown made of the finest wool, Which from our pretty lambs we pull; Fair-lined 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.
Ben Jonson (1573-1637) from "Song to Celia"
Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And I'll not look for wine.
How Do I Love Thee?Sonnet XLIII by Elizabeth Barret Browning
How do I love thee? Let mecount 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 everyday'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.Robert Burns (1759-1796)from "A Red, Red Rose" O, my Luve is like a red, red rose, That's newly sprung in June. O, my Luve is like the melodie, That's sweetly played in tune.
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 everyday'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 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.
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
from "Wild Nights" Wild nights! Wild nights!
Were I with thee,
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)
from "Beauty That Is Never Old"
for me there lies,
Within the lights and shadows of your eyes,
The only beauty that is never old.
The Child In Him
Jean Gabor
I loved the child in him
so innocent and sweet
The mischief in his eyes
the blush upon his cheek
The tender way he spoke
that showed me that he cared
The touch of his warm hand
that gently touched my hair
The smiles that we shared
that filled my life with glee
For when I was with him
I found the child in me.
so innocent and sweet
The mischief in his eyes
the blush upon his cheek
The tender way he spoke
that showed me that he cared
The touch of his warm hand
that gently touched my hair
The smiles that we shared
that filled my life with glee
For when I was with him
I found the child in me.
Bible Genesis 2:24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.
When You Are Old W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)
When you are old and gray 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 his his face amid a crowd of stars.
Touched by an Angel Angelou Maya
We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple and comes into our sight to liberate us into life.
Love arrives and in its train come ecstasies old memories of pleasure ancient histories of pain. Yet if we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls We are weaned from our timidity In the flush of love's light we dare be brave And suddenly we see that love costs all we are and will ever be.Yet it is only love which set us free
Disclosure: Compensated Affiliate
Really a great post. I liked it and its good that you are sharing with others too.
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