Here are poems to take you on a journey from the 'suddenly' of love at first sight to the 'truly, madly, deeply' of infatuation and on to the 'eternally' of love that lasts beyond the end of life, along the way taking in flirtation, passion, fury, betrayal and broken hearts. Bringing together the greatest love poetry from around the world and through the ages, ranging from W. H. Auden to William Shakespeare, John Donne to Emily Dickinson, Robert Browning to Roger McGough, this new anthology will delight, comfort and inspire anyone who has ever tasted love - in any of its forms.

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Poems for Love – presents of love

Laura Barber has selected poems for every occasion - whether you wish to reveal your true feelings to the one you're infatuated with or to let your ex know that you are truly over them.

For the person you secretly adore:  William Blake, The Sick Rose

Accompanied by a deep red rose (de-thorned and preferably not showing signs of mildew) this poem could be the perfect way of revealing your feelings to the one you’re infatuated with.

O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

For the person you’ve only just realised you fancy: Christina G. Rossetti, ‘I wish I could remember that first day’

This poem brilliantly captures that feeling of wanting to go back in time to capture and cherish the small scraps of memory that suddenly become significant and special when love has taken you by surprise.
 
I wish I could remember that first day,
First hour, first moment of your meeting me,
If bright or dim the season, it might be
Summer or Winter for aught I can say;
So unrecorded did it slip away,
So blind was I to see and to foresee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree
That would not blossom yet for many a May.
If only I could recollect it, such
A day of days! I let it come and go
As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;
It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;
If only now I could recall that touch,
First touch of hand in hand – Did one but know!

For your unrequited love: Edmund Spenser, from Amoretti, xxx

There’s nothing more tormenting than being swept off your feet by your emotions, only to find that the other person is still standing.  This poem expresses that frustration and also holds out a sliver of hope that love might work its magic on your beloved too.

My love is like to ice, and I to fire:
how comes it then that this her cold so great
is not dissolv’d through my so hot desire,
but harder grows the more I her entreat?
Or how comes it that my exceeding heat
is not delayed by her heart frozen cold,
but that I burn much more in boiling sweat,
and feel my flames augmented manifold?
What more miraculous thing may be told
that fire, which all things melt, should harden ice;
and ice, which is congealed with senseless cold,
should kindle fire by wonderful device?
Such is the power of love in gentle mind
that it can alter all the course of kind.

For the person you’ve just got together with: John Donne, The Good Morrow

Suddenly the sun seems shinier, the trees seem greener, and every song on the radio seems to mean something… this is a poem for when you’re newly besotted and suddenly realise that your life is magically complete.

I wonder by my troth, what thou and I
Did till we loved? Were we not weaned till then,
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the seven sleepers’ den?
’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.

And now good morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room, an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to others, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, both thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

For the one that got away: Thomas Hardy, A Thunderstorm in Town

Whether you’ve glimpsed a vision of loveliness on the circle line, failed to approach someone at a party, or accidentally thrown away a scribbled phone number, Hardy’s poem conveys the regret of a lost opportunity.

She wore a new ‘terra-cotta’ dress,
And we stayed, because of the pelting storm,
Within the hansom’s dry recess,
Though the horse had stopped; yea, motionless
We sat on, snug and warm.

Then the downpour ceased, to my sharp sad pain,
And the glass that had screened our forms before
Flew up, and out she sprang to her door:
I should have kissed her if the rain
Had lasted a minute more.

For the person you’re marrying: Joshua Sylvester, ‘Were I as base as is the lowly plain’

A poem that expresses total adoration and total commitment, no matter what, for ever.

Were I as base as is the lowly plain,
And you, my Love, as high as heaven above,
Yet should the thoughts of me your humble swain
Ascend to heaven in honour of my Love.
Were I as high as heaven above the plain,
And you, my Love, as humble and as low
As are the deepest bottoms of the main,
Whereso’er you were, with you my love should go.
Were you the earth, dear Love, and I the skies,
My Love should shine on you like to the sun,
And look upon you with ten thousand eyes,
Till heaven waxed blind, and till the world were done.
Whereso’er I am, below or else above you,
Whereso’er you are, my heart shall truly love you.

For your ex: Thomas Moore, To ——

When you’ve used up all the tissues, danced your socks off to Gloria Gaynor, and deleted every last text message, it’s time to channel your anger – and relish it.

When I loved you, I can’t but allow
I had many an exquisite minute;
But the scorn that I feel for you now
Hath even more luxury in it!

Thus, whether we’re on or we’re off,
Some witchery seems to await you;
To love you is pleasant enough,
And, oh! ’tis delicious to hate you!

For your long-distance love: Anonymous, ‘Westron wind, when will thou blow’

A poem for those lonely moments when the one you love is on the other side of the world – or on the other side of the room, if you’ve really got it bad.

Westron wind, when will thou blow,
The small rain down can rain?
Christ if my love were in my arms,
And I in my bed again.

For the love of your life: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet XLIII from Sonnets from the Portuguese

Elizabeth Barrett’s sonnet for her future-husband and fellow-poet, Robert Browning, is a lovely poem to give when can’t find words enough to sum up the infiniteness of your 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 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 a passion, put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with the 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.