Sonnet 14

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only.  Do not say
"I love her for her smile-her look-her way
Of speaking gently-for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day"-
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee-and love, so wrought
May be unwrought so, neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry-
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby
But love me for love's sake that evermore
Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity. 

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning


Sonnet 43

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
I love thee to 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 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 but to use
In my old griefs, and my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints-I love the with the breath
Smiles, tears, of all my life!-and, if God choose
I shall but love you better after death.

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning


Love's Philosophy

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle-
Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high heaven 
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdain'd its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth, 
And the moonbeams kiss the sea-
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

By Percy Bysshe Shelley


Symptoms Of Love

Love is a universal migraine,
A bright stain on the vision
Blotting out reason

Symptoms of true love
Are leanness, jealousy,
Laggard dawns;

Are omens and nightmare
Listening for a knock
Waiting for a sign

For a touch of her fingers
In a darkened room,
For a searching look

Take courage, lover!
Can you endure such grief
At any hands but hers?

By Robert Graves


A Birthday

My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a watered shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these, 
Because my love is come to me.

Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.

By Christina Rossetti


Annabel Lee

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.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee-
With a love that the winged seraphs in Heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me:-
Yes!-that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud, by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in Heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;-

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling,-my darling,-my life and my bride,
In her sepulcher there by the sea-
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

By Edgar Allan Poe


When Love Comes Around

When love comes around
Who knows when it will end.
When we will hear the words
I think we should be friends.

Should we cherish every chance
And love with all our hearts?
Or should we hold back
And keep the love apart?

Do we really know
Right away they are the one?
Can we tell the difference
Between true love and only fun?

Love is just a game
And someone always has to lose.
But we have to keep on playing
Until we make the winning move.

Unknown author


Don't Give Up

Don't give up, it's not worth it.
Someday he'll come along from above-Mr. Perfect!
Hearts are sometimes broken.
Love is always meant to mend.
Don't give up, someday it'll all end. 
He'll be there; living, loving, caring
For only you-an eternal friend! 

Unknown author


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.

As 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.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun!
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve,
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile!

By Robert Burns


Music, when soft voices die

Music, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory--
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heap'd for the beloved's bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.

By Percy Bysshe Shelley


Show me

Show me,
how to reach the stars
that twinkle in your eyes
Tell me,
how to touch the sun
that shines when you smile
Show me,
how to reach the bells
that ring when you laugh
Tell me,
how to catch the wind
that blows through your hair
Show me,
Tell me,
Most of all
how to reach you
& touch your heart.

By Anomynous


If forever

If you had to make a choice
Would you stay with me forever?
If forever was a day
Would you hold me tight?
If forever was an hour
Would you talk from your heart?
If forever was a minute
Would you take my hand?
If forever was a second
Would you be glad you were with me?



Key to my heart

I had closed the door upon my heart
And wouldn't let anyone in
I had trusted and loved only to be hurt
But that would never happen again
I had locked the door and tossed the key
As hard and as fast as I could
Love would never enter there again
My heart was closed for good
Then you came into my life
And made me change my mind
Just when I thought that tiny key
Was impossible to find
That's when you held out your hand
And proved to me I was wrong
Inside your palm was the key to my heart
You had it all along.
Unknow author