10 of the Best True Love Poems

From William Morris to Pablo Neruda, the poets on this list speak about the aspects of true love. Each poet has their own take on what true love is, how it influences one’s life, and the pain that one should expect to go along with it. 

Love Is Enough by William Morris

“Love is Enough” by William Morris is a short poem that expresses the power of true love. The speaker states that even when times are darkest, love is enough in the face of adversity. He believes that it has the power to make lovers fearless in a dreary and depressing world of darkness. Here are a few lines: 

Love is enough: though the World be a-waning,

And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining,

Explore William Morris’ poetry.

Love Sonnet XI by Pablo Neruda 

This sonnet is known as ‘I crave your mouth.’ It is an affectionate and intimate fourteen-line sonnet that is one of Neruda’s best. In the first two quatrains of this piece, Neruda expresses his love for his intended listener by mentioning her various physical features and how he physically craves her. Here are a few lines from this piece:

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.

Later, he says that he wants to “eat the sunbeam flaring in [her] body.” 

Explore more Pablo Neruda poems.

Bei Hennef by D.H. Lawrence 

This incredibly effective poem describes the effect twilight has to clear a speaker’s mind and make him see the strength of his love. The speaker knows that their love for their partner is incredibly strong. The confines and irritations of the real world get in the way of emotional connection. Here are a few lines: 

  What else—it is perfect enough,

                         It is perfectly complete,

                         You and I.

Strange, how we suffer in spite of this!

Discover more D.H. Lawrence poems. 

Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

This well-known and dark true love poem describes the love a speaker held for Annabel Lee, who has recently passed away. The speaker is commonly considered to be Poe himself, who outlines the loss he has suffered. Here are a few lines from this 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;

The speaker says that their love was so true and strong that the angels took her away to sate their jealousy.

Read more Edgar Allan Poe poems.

To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet

This short poem is one of several written in dedication to the poet’s spouse. Bradstreet expresses her genuine, true love for her husband by describing how they have bonded. They were two and, through marriage and their growing emotional attachment, became one. Here are a few lines from this piece:

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.

Throughout the poem, she assures her husband that she loves him and will continue to do so.

Discover Anne Bradstreet’s poetry.

How Do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 

Browning’s ‘How Do I Love Thee’ is an incredible poem about true love. It was written with the author’s husband, Robert Browning, in mind. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker declares that she is going to “count the ways” that she loves “thee.” Here are a few lines from this piece:

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.

This is one of the best true love poems on this list as it also considers the delight of their friendship. It proposes their relationship is going to last for all eternity.

Explore more of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry.

Love That Boy by Walter Dean Meyers

This poem is somewhat different from the others featured on this list. It expresses a father’s love for his son rather than any type of romantic love. The poem describes the speaker’s son, someone who smiles a great deal and reminds the speaker of other family members. He’s very loveable, and the speaker is determined to continue to love him as much as possible. Here are a few lines: 

Love that boy,

like a rabbit loves to run

I said I love that boy

like a rabbit loves to run

Love to call him in the morning

Read more Walter Dean Meyers poems. 

Love Poem for a Wife by A. K. Ramanujan

‘Love Poem for a Wife’ by A. K. Ramanujan depicts the poet’s sleeping wife with unusual, thoughtful, and very memorable imagery and then alludes to their unity as one being. It conveys some of the deepest emotions associated with a loving relationship. Here are a few lines: 

in the morning, in the waking my wife’s 

face still fast asleep blessed as by

butterfly, snake, shiprope and

 grandmother’s other children by my love’s 

only insatiable envy

Read more A.K. Ramanujan poems. 

I Said to Love by Thomas Hardy 

This true love poem is about love and the difficulties it creates. It is one of the many poems Hardy wrote after the death of his wife, Emma, who passed away in 1912. Another example is  ‘Under The Waterfall.’ Here are a few lines from ‘I Said to Love:’ 

I said to Love,

“It is not now as in old days

When men adored thee and thy ways

All else above;

Named thee the Boy, the Bright, the One

Who spread a heaven beneath the sun,”

I said to Love.

Discover more Thomas Hardy poems. 

The Sorrow of True Love by Edward Thomas 

This poem expresses the sorrow and darker emotions associated with the loss of true love. The speaker believes that pain is an integral part of love that one should expect to experience. Here are a few lines: 

The sorrow of true love is a great sorrow

And true love parting blackens a bright morrow:

Yet almost they equal joys, since their despair

Is but hope blinded by its tears, and clear

Above the storm the heavens wait to be seen.

Explore more Edward Thomas poems. 

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