“Roses are red / Violets are blue/ (insert sweet thought here)/ and so are you!”
This is the quintessential short love poem. We’ve all seen multiple variations of it, some incredibly humorous, some just flat out pathetic. Winning someone’s heart is going to take more than that old overused poem. Where can you find good short poems about love? Running a quick Internet search might bring up many short poems about love, but you’ll probably find most of them little better than your own attempts. So where will you find good short love poems?
Start with the Classics from Shakespeare
When it comes to famous short poems about love, there aren’t any more famous than Shakespeare’s sonnets. Although they often have no individual titles, only numbers, some of the lines are so famous as to be part of everyday cultural literacy. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” How about, “Sweet Love, renew they force?” On the off-chance that she doesn’t like it, you still get the prestige points for knowing Shakespeare, so learning a couple of his sonnets is really a no-lose situation.
Sonnet 116 (following) would be a good starting place.
“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…”
Another great poem that I remember from high school English class is Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty.”
“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.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!”
The classics can be a great starting place both because they use such high language and because previous generations have already sifted out the ones that aren’t very good. Turning yourself into a walking English textbook may backfire, especially if that is all you ever say to her. For maximum effect, you should also try your own hand at poetry.
Writing Your Own Short Poems about Love and Friendship
Even if you aren’t a good writer, writing your own poems about love has a few advantages. For one thing, anything you take the time to make yourself shows that you place a high value on the relationship. Your own poem will also be more personal, and therefore more true. When I am writing a poem specifically for or about someone, I usually use the following method. First, I brainstorm and write down all of the words and phrases I can think of that characterize that person and our relationship. Then I think about what aspects I want to focus on in the poem to tell that person I appreciate and love him/her. Then I start writing, stringing together as many of the words ideas and phrases I brainstormed as possible. Other simple strategies would be to do an acrostic with the person’s name or think of a word and come up with as many rhyming words as possible. Like this example I just made up using the word true (yes, it’s cheesy, but it could easily get you a smile and a chuckle):
“We could go to the zoo
Or sail the ocean blue
As long as I’m with you
Everything seems new
To you I will be true
I’ll stick to you like glue
No one else will do
For me there’s only you”
Other Sources for Inspiration
If you are still at a loss, just sing her a love song or check out our collections of wise quotes about love and funny quotes about life for more information. For more short poems about love and pain or famous short poems about love, check out the articles in the Quotes/SMS category of the Internet for Christians website.