|

Classic Love Poems
I Would I Were a Careless Child
I WOULD I were a careless child, Still dwelling in my highland cave, Or roaming through the dusky wild, Or bounding o'er the dark blue wave; The cumbrous pomp of Saxon pride Accords not with the freeborn soul, Which loves the mountain's craggy side, And seeks the rocks where billows roll.
Fortune! take back these cultured lands, Take back this name of splendid sound! I hate the touch of servile hands, I hate the slaves that cringe around. Place me among the rocks I love, Which sound to Ocean's wildest roar; I ask but this -- again to rove Through scenes my youth hath known before.
Few are my years, and yet I feel The world was ne'er designed for me: Ah! why do dark'ning shades conceal The hour when man must cease to be? Once I beheld a splendid dream, A visionary scene of bliss: Truth! -- wherefore did thy hated beam Awake me to a world like this?
I loved -- but those I loved are gone; Had friends -- my early friends are fled: How cheerless feels the heart alone When all its former hopes are dead! Though gay companions o'er the bowl Dispel awhile the sense of ill; Though pleasure stirs the maddening soul, The heart -- the heart -- is lonely still.
How dull! to hear the voice of those Whom rank or chance, whom wealth or power, Have made, though neither friends nor foes, Associates of the festive hour. Give me again a faithful few, In years and feelings still the same, And I will fly the midnight crew, Where boist'rous joy is but a name.
And woman, lovely woman! thou, My hope, my comforter, my all! How cold must be my bosom now, When e'en thy smiles begin to pall! Without a sigh I would resign This busy scene of splendid woe, To make that calm contentment mine, Which virtue knows, or seems to know.
Fain would I fly the haunts of men-- I seek to shun, not hate mankind; My breast requires the sullen glen, Whose gloom may suit a darken'd mind. Oh! that to me the wings were given Which bear the turtle to her nest! Then would I cleave the vault of heaven, To flee away and be at rest.
Lord Byron, (George Gordon)
Adieu, Adieu! My Native Shore from Childe Harold, Canto i, Verse 13
'ADIEU, adieu! my native shore Fades o'er the waters blue; The Night-winds sigh, the breakers roar, And shrieks the wild sea-mew. Yon Sun that sets upon the sea We follow in his flight; Farewell awhile to him and thee, My native Land -- Good Night!
'A few short hours and He will rise To give the Morrow birth; And I shall hail the main and skies, But not my mother Earth. Deserted is my own good hall, Its hearth is desolate; Wild weeds are gathering on the wall; My dog howls at the gate.
'Come hither, hither, my little page! Why dost thou weep and wail? Or dost thou dread the billows' rage, Or tremble at the gale? But dash the tear-drop from thine eye; Our ship is swift and strong, Our fleetest falcon scarce can fly More merrily along.' --
'Let winds be shrill, let waves roll high, I fear not wave nor wind; Yet marvel not, Sir Childe, that I Am sorrowful in mind; For I have from my father gone, A mother whom I love, And have no friend, save these alone, But thee -- and one above.
'My father bless'd be fervently, Yet did not much complain; But sorely will my mother sigh Till I come back again.' -- 'Enough, enough, my little lad! Such tears become thine eye; If I thy guileless bosom had, Mine own would not be dry. --
'Come hither, hither, my staunch yeoman, Why dost thou look so pale? Or dost thou dread a French foeman? Or shiver at the gale?'-- 'Deem'st thou I tremble for my life? Sir Childe, I'm not so weak; But thinking on an absent wife Will blanch a faithful cheek.
'My spouse and boys dwell near thy hall, Along the bordering lake, And when they on their father call, What answer shall she make?'-- 'Enough, enough, my yeoman good, Thy grief let none gainsay; But I, who am of lighter mood, Will laugh to flee away.
'For who would trust the seeming sighs Of wife or paramour? Fresh feres will dry the bright blue eyes We late saw streaming o'er. For pleasures past I do not grieve, Nor perils gathering near; My greatest grief is that I leave No thing that claims a tear.
'And now I'm in the world alone, Upon the wide, wide sea; But why should I for others groan, When none will sigh for me? Perchance my dog will whine in vain, Till fed by stranger hands; But long ere I come back again He'd tear me where he stands.
'With thee, my bark, I'll swiftly go Athwart the foaming brine; Nor care what land thou bear'st me to, So not again to mine. Welcome, welcome, ye dark blue waves! And when you fail my sight, Welcome ye deserts, and ye caves! My native land -- Good Night!'
Lord Byron, (George Gordon)
When We Two Parted
WHEN we two parted In silence and tears, Half broken-hearted To sever for years, Pale grew thy cheek and cold, Colder thy kiss; Truly that hour foretold Sorrow to this.
The dew of the morning Sunk chill on my brow-- It felt like the warning Of what I feel now. Thy vows are all broken, And light is thy fame; I hear thy name spoken, And share in its shame.
They name thee before me, A knell to mine ear; A shudder comes o'er me-- Why wert thou so dear? They know not I knew thee, Who knew thee too well:-- Long, long shall I rue thee, Too deeply to tell.
In secret we met-- In silence I grieve That thy heart could forget, Thy spirit deceive. If I should meet thee After long years, How should I greet thee?-- With silence and tears.
Lord Byron, (George Gordon)
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods from Childe Harold, Canto iv, Verse 178
THERE is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more, From these our interviews, in which I steal From all I may be, or have been before, To mingle with the Universe, and feel What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
Lord Byron, (George Gordon)
He Who Ascends to Mountain-Tops from Childe Harold, Canto iii, Verse 45
HE who ascends to mountain-tops shall find The loftiest peaks most wrapt in clouds and snow; He who surpasses or subdues mankind, Must look down on the hate of those below. Though high above the sun of glory glow, And far beneath the earth and ocean spread, Round him are icy rocks, and loudly blow Contending tempests on his naked head. And thus rewards the toils which to those summits led.
Lord Byron, (George Gordon)
So We'll Go No More a-Roving
SO we'll go no more a-roving So late into the night, Though the heart still be as loving, And the moon still be as bright.
For the sword outwears its sheath, And the soul outwears the breast, And the heart must pause to breathe, And love itself have rest.
Though the night was made for loving, And the day returns too soon, Yet we'll go no more a-roving By the light of the moon.
Lord Byron, (George Gordon)
The Destruction of Sennacherib
1
THE Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on the Galilee.
2
Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen: Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
3
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed; And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!
4
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide, But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride; And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
5
And there lay the rider distorted and pale, With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail: And the tents were all silent, the banners alone, The lances unlifted, the trumpets unblown.
6
And the widows of Ashur are load in thier wail, And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal; And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
Lord Byron, (George Gordon)
Stanzas for Music
THERE be none of Beauty's daughters With a magic like thee; And like music on the waters Is thy sweet voice to me: When, as if its sound were causing The charmèd ocean's pausing, The waves lie still and gleaming, And the lull'd winds seem dreaming.
And the midnight moon is weaving Her bright chain o'er the deep, Whose breast is gently heaving As an infant's asleep: So the sprit bows before thee; With a full but soft emotion, Like the swell of Summer's ocean.
Lord Byron, (George Gordon)
Sonnet to Lake Leman
ROUSSEAU -- Voltaire
The Garden
THERE is a garden in her face, Where roses and white lilies grow; A heavenly paradise is that place, Wherein all pleasant fruits do flow. These cherries grow which none may buy, Till "Cherry-ripe" themselves do cry.
Those cherries fairly do enclose Of orient pearl a double row, Which when her lovely laughter shows, They look like rosebuds filled with snow. Yet them nor peer nor prince can buy, Till "Cherry-ripe" themselves do cry.
Her eyes like angels watch them still; Her brows like bended bows do stand, Threatening with piercing frowns to kill All that attempt with eye or hand Those sacred cherries to come nigh, Till "Cherry-ripe" themselves do cry.
Thomas Campion
Thrice Toss Those Oaken Ashes in the Air
THRICE toss those oaken ashes in the air; Thrice sit thou mute in this enchanted chair; Then thrice three times tie up this true love's knot, And murmur soft: "She will, or she will not."
Go burn those poisonous weeds in yon blue fire, These screech-owl's feathers and this prickling briar, This cypress gathered at a dead man's grave, That all thy fears and cares an end may have.
Then come, you fairies, dance with me a round; Melt her hard heart with your melodious sound. In vain are all the charms I can devise; She hath an art to break them with her eyes.
Thomas Campion
Follow Thy Fair Sun
FOLLOW thy fair sun, unhappy shadow! Though thou be black as night, And she made all of light, Yet follow thy fair sun, unhappy shadow!
Follow her, whose light thy light depriveth! Though here thou liv'st disgraced, And she in heaven is placed, Yet follow her whose light the world reviveth!
Follow those pure beams, whose beauty burneth! That so have scorched thee As thou still black must be Till her kind beams thy black to brightness turneth.
Follow here, while yet her glory shineth! There comes a luckless night That will dim all her light; And this the black unhappy shade divineth.
Follow still, since so thy fates ordained! The sun must have his shade, Till both at once do fade, The sun still proud, the shadow still disdained.
Thomas Campion
Now Winter Nights Enlarge
NOW winter nights enlarge The number of their hours, And clouds their storms discharge Upon the airy towers. Let now the chimneys blaze, And cups o'erflow with wine; Let well-tuned words amaze With harmony divine. Now yellow waxen lights Shall wait on honey love, While youthful revels, masques, and courtly sights Sleep's leaden spells remove.
This time doth well dispense With lovers' long discourse; Much speech hath some defence, Though beauty no remorse. All do not all things well; Some measures comely tread, Some knotted riddles tell, Some poems smoothly read. The summer hath his joys And winter his delights; Though love and all his pleasures are but toys, They shorten tedious nights.
Thomas Campion
Amaryllis
I CARE not for these ladies that must be wooed and prayed; Give me kind Amaryllis, the wanton country maid. Nature Art disdaineth; her beauty is her own. Her when we court and kiss, she cries: forsooth, let go! But when we come where comfort is, she never will say no.
If I love Amaryllis, she gives me fruit and flowers; But if we love these ladies, we must give golden showers. Give them gold that sell love, give me the nut-brown lass, Who when we court and kiss, she cries: forsooth, let go! But when we come where comfort is, she never will say no.
These ladies must have pillows and beds by strangers wrought. Give me a bower of willows, of moss and leaves unbought, And fresh Amaryllis with milk and honey fed, Who when we court and kiss, she cries: forsooth, let go! But when we come where comfort is, she never will say no.
Thomas Campion
Corinna
WHEN to her lute Corinna sings, Her voice revives the leaden strings, And doth in highest notes appear As any challenged echo clear. But when she doth of mourning speak, Even with her sighs the strings do break.
And as her lute doth live or die; Led by her passion, so must I. For when of pleasure she doth sing, My thoughts enjoy a sudden spring; But if she doth of sorrow speak, Even from my heart the strings do break.
Thomas Campion
My Sweetest Lesbia (imitation of Catallus)
MY sweetest Lesbia, let us live and love, And though the sager sort our deeds reprove, Let us not weigh them. Heaven's great lamps do dive Into their west, and straight again revive, But soon as once set is our little light, Then must we sleep one ever-during night.
If all would lead their lives in love like me, Then bloody swords and armor should not be; No drum nor trumpet peaceful sleeps should move, Unless alarm came from the camp of love. But fools do live, and waste their little light, And seek with pain their ever-during night.
When timely death my life and fortune ends, Let not my hearse be vexed with mourning friends, But let all lovers, rich in triumph, come And with sweet pastimes grace my happy tomb; And Lesbia, close up thou my little light, And crown with love my ever-during night.
Thomas Campion
When Thou Must Home to Shades of Underground
WHEN thou must home to shades of underground, And there arrived, a new admirèd guest, The beauteous spirits do engirt thee round, White Iope, blithe Helen, and the rest, To hear the stories of thy finished love From that smooth tongue whose music hell can move,
Then wilt thou speak of banqueting delights, Of masques and revels which sweet youth did make, Of tourneys and great challenges of knights, And all these triumphs for thy beauty's sake; When thou hast told these honors done to thee, Then tell, Oh tell, how thou didst murther me.
Thomas Campion
Rose-cheeked Laura
ROSE-cheeked Laura, come, Sing thou smoothly with thy beauty's Silent music, either other Sweetly gracing.
Lovely forms do flow From concert divinely framed; Heav'n is music, and thy beauty's Birth is heavenly.
These dull notes we sing Discords need for helps to grace them; Only beauty purely loving Knows no discord,
But still moves delight, Like clear springs renewed by flowing, Ever perfect, ever in them- Selves eternal.
Thomas Campion
autumn
THE thistledown's flying, though the winds are all still, On the green grass now lying, now mounting the hill, The spring from the fountain now boils like a pot; Through stones past the counting it bubbles red-hot.
The ground parched and cracked is like overbaked bread, The greensward all wracked is, bent dried up and dead. The fallow fields glitter like water indeed, And gossamers twitter, flung from weed unto weed.
Hill-tops like hot iron glitter bright in the sun, And the rivers we're eying burn to gold as they run; Burning hot is the ground, liquid gold is the air; Whoever looks round sees Eternity there.
John Clare
I Am!
I AM! yet what I am none cares or knows, My friends forsake me like a memory lost; I am the self-consumer of my woes, They rise and vanish, an oblivious host, Like shades in love and death's oblivion lost; And yet I am! and live with shadows tost
Into the nothingness of scorn and noise, Into the living sea of waking dreams, Where there is neither sense of life nor joys, But the vast shipwreck of my life's esteems; And e'en the dearest--that I loved the best-- Are strange--nay, rather stranger than the rest.
I long for scenes where man has never trod; A place where woman never smil'd or wept; There to abide with my creator, God, And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept: Untroubling and untroubled where I lie; The grass below--above the vaulted sky.
John Clare
Summer
COME we to the summer, to the summer we will come, For the woods are full of bluebells and the hedges full of bloom, And the crow is on the oak a-building of her nest, And love is burning diamonds in my true lover's breast; She sits beneath the whitethorn a-plaiting of her hair, And I will to my true lover with a fond request repair; I will look upon her face, I will in her beauty rest, And lay my aching weariness upon her lovely breast.
The clock-a-clay is creeping on the open bloom of May, The merry bee is trampling the pinky threads all day, And the chaffinch it is brooding on its grey mossy nest In the whitethorn bush where I will lean upon my lover's breast; I'll lean upon her breast and I'll whisper in her ear That I cannot get a wink o'sleep for thinking of my dear; I hunger at my meat and I daily fade away Like the hedge rose that is broken in the heat of the day.
John Clare
The Skylark
THE rolls and harrows lie at rest beside The battered road; and spreading far and wide Above the russet clods, the corn is seen Sprouting its spiry points of tender green, Where squats the hare, to terrors wide awake, Like some brown clod the harrows failed to break. Opening their golden caskets to the sun, The buttercups make schoolboys eager run, To see who shall be first to pluck the prize-- Up from their hurry, see, the skylark flies, And o'er her half-formed nest, with happy wings Winnows the air, till in the cloud she sings, Then hangs a dust-spot in the sunny skies, And drops, and drops, till in her nest she lies, Which they unheeded passed--not dreaming then That birds which flew so high would drop again To nests upon the ground, which anything May come at to destroy. Had they the wing Like such a bird, themselves would be too proud, And build on nothing but a passing cloud! As free from danger as the heavens are free From pain and toil, there would they build and be, And sail about the world to scenes unheard Of and unseen--Oh, were they but a bird! So think they, while they listen to its song, And smile and fancy and so pass along; While its low nest, moist with the dews of morn, Lies safely, with the leveret, in the corn.
John Clare
To Mary
I SLEEP with thee, and wake with thee, And yet thou art not there; I fill my arms with thoughts of thee, And press the common air. Thy eyes are gazing upon mine When thou art out of sight; My lips are always touching thine At morning, noon, and night.
I think and speak of other things To keep my mind at rest, But still to thee my memory clings Like love in woman's breast. I hide it from the world's wide eye And think and speak contrary, But soft the wind comes from the sky And whispers tales of Mary.
The night-wind whispers in my ear, The moon shines on my face; The burden still of chilling fear I find in every place. The breeze is whispering in the bush, And the leaves fall from the tree, All sighing on, and will not hush, Some pleasant tales of thee.
John Clare
The Winter's Spring
THE winter comes; I walk alone, I want no bird to sing; To those who keep their hearts their own The winter is the spring. No flowers to please--no bees to hum-- The coming spring's already come.
I never want the Christmas rose To come before its time; The seasons, each as God bestows, Are simple and sublime. I love to see the snowstorm hing; 'Tis but the winter garb of spring.
I never want the grass to bloom: The snowstorm's best in white. I love to see the tempest come And love its piercing light. The dazzled eyes that love to cling O'er snow-white meadows sees the spring.
I love the snow, the crumpling snow That hangs on everything, It covers everything below Like white dove's brooding wing, A landscape to the aching sight, A vast expanse of dazzling light.
It is the foliage of the woods That winters bring--the dress, White Easter of the year in bud, That makes the winter Spring. The frost and snow his posies bring, Nature's white spurts of the spring.
John Clare
Schoolboys in Winter
THE schoolboys still their morning ramble take To neighboring village school with playing speed, Loitering with passtime's leisure till they quake, Oft looking up the wild-geese droves to heed, Watching the letters which their journeys make; Or plucking haws on which their fieldfares feed, And hips and sloes; and on each shallow lake Making glib slides, where they like shadows go Till some fresh passtimes in their minds awake. Then off they start anew and hasty blow Their numbed and clumpsing fingers till they glow; Then races with their shadows wildly run That stride huge giants o'er the shining snow In the pale splendour of the winter sun.
John Clare
Meet Me in the Green Glen
LOVE, meet me in the green glen, Beside the tall elm-tree, Where the sweetbriar smells so sweet agen; There come with me. Meet me in the green glen.
Meet me at the sunset Down in the green glen, Where we've often met By hawthorn-tree and foxes' den, Meet me in the green glen.
Meet me in the green glen, By sweetbriar bushes there; Meet me by your own sen, Where the wild thyme blossoms fair. Meet me in the green glen.
Meet me by the sweetbriar, By the mole-hill swelling there; When the west glows like a fire God's crimson bed is there. Meet me in the green glen.
John Clare

The Badger
WHEN midnight comes a host of dogs and men Go out and track the badger to his den, And put a sack within the hole and lie Till the old grunting badger passes by. He comes and hears - they let the strongest loose. The old fox hears the noise and drops the goose. The poacher shoots and hurries from the cry, And the old hare half wounded buzzes by. They get a forkéd stick to bear him down And clap the dogs and take him to the town, And bait him all the day with many dogs, And laugh and shout and fright the scampering hogs. He runs along and bites at all he meets: They shout and hollo down the noisy streets. He turns about to face the loud uproar And drives the rebels to their very door. The frequent stone is hurled wher'er they go; When badgers fight, then everyone's a foe. The dogs are clapped and urged to join the fray; The badger turns and drives them all away. Though scarcely half as big, demure and small, He fights with dogs for hours and beats them all. The heavy mastiff, savage in the fray, Lies down and licks his feet and turns away. The bulldog knows his match and waxes cold The badger grins and never leaves his hold. He drives the crowd and follows at their heels And bites them through - the drunkard swears and reels. The frighted women take the boys away, The blackguard laughs and hurries on the fray. He tries to reach the woods, an awkward race, But sticks and cudgels quickly stop the chase. He turns again and drives the noisy crowd And beats the many dogs in noises loud. He drives away and beats them every one, And then they loose them all and set them on. He falls as dead and kicked by boys and men, Then starts and grins and drives the crowd again; Till kicked and torn and beaten out he lies And leaves his hold and cackles, groans and dies.
John Clare
And So Did I
Before the fire, that winter's night None seemed so sweet as she, With winning smile, and dark eyes bright, And playful repartee.
The dancing light - as round it flashed - To her seemed drawing nigh, Her slender waist pressed unabashed; Thus guided, so did I.
It softly touched her cheeks aflame. I scarce repressed a sigh. It touched her lips. Dared I the same? Too tempting; so did I.
Her ruby lips, half pouting, seemed My boldness to decry. Pa's step was heard. The flame scarce gleamed, Went out - and so did I.
Isaac Joslyn Cox 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 mountain 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 th 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 shepherds' 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,
Christopher Marlowe
My Sweetest Lesbia (imitation of Catallus)
MY sweetest Lesbia, let us live and love, And though the sager sort our deeds reprove, Let us not weigh them. Heaven's great lamps do dive Into their west, and straight again revive, But soon as once set is our little light, Then must we sleep one ever-during night.
If all would lead their lives in love like me, Then bloody swords and armor should not be; No drum nor trumpet peaceful sleeps should move, Unless alarm came from the camp of love. But fools do live, and waste their little light, And seek with pain their ever-during night.
When timely death my life and fortune ends, Let not my hearse be vexed with mourning friends, But let all lovers, rich in triumph, come And with sweet pastimes grace my happy tomb; And Lesbia, close up thou my little light, And crown with love my ever-during night.
Thomas Campion
When Thou Must Home to Shades of Underground
WHEN thou must home to shades of underground, And there arrived, a new admirèd guest, The beauteous spirits do engirt thee round, White Iope, blithe Helen, and the rest, To hear the stories of thy finished love From that smooth tongue whose music hell can move,
Then wilt thou speak of banqueting delights, Of masques and revels which sweet youth did make, Of tourneys and great challenges of knights, And all these triumphs for thy beauty's sake; When thou hast told these honors done to thee, Then tell, Oh tell, how thou didst murther me.
Thomas Campion
Rose-cheeked Laura
ROSE-cheeked Laura, come, Sing thou smoothly with thy beauty's Silent music, either other Sweetly gracing.
Lovely forms do flow From concert divinely framed; Heav'n is music, and thy beauty's Birth is heavenly.
These dull notes we sing Discords need for helps to grace them; Only beauty purely loving Knows no discord,
But still moves delight, Like clear springs renewed by flowing, Ever perfect, ever in them- Selves eternal.
Thomas Campion


Join today and we will send you your own badge with your sister name on it . The sisterhood is a free group for women that all share a love for romance.

|