Love and Relationship Poems

If I Have Gone To Sleep

If I depart in early sleep
And cease to be with you,
My thoughts I'd leave for you to read,
To hold your hands in times of need,
to soothe your grieving too.

I've written words you have not read
That speak of you, my love.
In them, I do express for you
A love as deep as oceans blue
And wide as space above.

We've lived as one for many years
Despite some days of pain,
But never did we keep a thought
From holding back the love we sought,
But strove for it to reign.

For forty-one abiding years,
I've prized my time with you.
And I do hope we both will see
The dawn ahead when we'll be free
From death and sadness too.

But if I were to fall asleep
Before what will be new,
Remember this: the hope we hold,
The one that God will soon unfold,
Will bring us back anew.

So cherish all the words I'll leave
If I have gone to sleep,
For they will be my hands on you,
Caresses from the man you knew,
Forever yours to keep.

Photo by Annie Spratt via Unsplash

Poetic form: Quintain

'Through The Years'

Hold This Truth

If death should take my breath, my dear,
Shed just one tear for me.
Reduced will be the time you mourn,
A transient pause until the morn,
And then, with you, I'll be.

The grave will hold my fleshless bones;
I will return to dust.
Another life in death's embrace,
A darkened room, a lonely place.
Within, I will be thrust.

Recall the things that we went through
While still in early bloom.
We were so young and full of hope,
Then met with pain and had to cope,
Yet rose above the gloom.

But now that we are old and gray
And near the end of life,
Retain within your heart and mind
That death cannot keep life confined;
Be cheered, my lovely wife.

So hold this truth within your heart:
You'll touch my face again.
The Sovereign One will soon reveal
That even death to him must kneel,
And I will see you then.

John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15; Isaiah 25:8

Image by StockSnap via Pixabay

Poetic form: Quintain

Sentimental Song

A pad and pen lie by his side
This moonless night of fall.
And though he tries to hush his pride,
To only see the tears she cried,
His hands refuse to breach the wall,
A pithy line to scrawl.

His mind, in angst, replays the day
And sees the pain she felt.
For he had let a donkey's bray
Escape his lips without delay,
Not thinking of what pain it dealt
When he shot out his pelt.

Now deep regret besets his mind,
For what he did was wrong.
His hands relent and reach to find
The pad and pen they first declined,
To write for her, ten pages long,
A sentimental song.

Image by Beccalee via Pixabay

Poetic form: Sexain

A New Day

A searing ache within my heart
Has taken hold of me.
I've been adrift without a chart,
Uncertain, lost, and drawn apart—
A lonely sailor lost at sea
In storms I didn't see.

A cheerful spring has kissed the day
And blushed the sky at dawn.
And ere the birds arise to play,
I cling to my dear love and pray
To have my woes forever gone,
A joyous day to don.

We rise and pray the day is blessed;
Her kiss expels my cares.
I rest my head atop her breast
And thank her for this time of rest,
For all her love and earnest prayers,
And for the pain she bears.

Image by StockSnap via Pixabay

Poetic form: Sexain

Lovely As You

Oh, a poem as lovely as you,

No poet wrote for eyes to view.

Not Burns or Blake, not even Keats,

Though pens have bled on countless sheets.

And though I've searched both high and low,

No lyric shares your wondrous glow.

I think, perhaps, a lengthy prose

May capture half your glowing rose.

And yet, I know it will not hold

The salient beauty I behold.

But still, I search in case you go,

So words may ease that day of woe.

Image by Katzenfee50 via Pixabay

Poetic form: Couplet

Beauty And Grace

Oh, blessed is the wind that caresses your face,
The sun at dawn, when awakened, my dear.
No flower can best your beauty and grace!

And see, high above, the clouds giving chase
To the breath that has kissed the lobe of your ear.
Oh, blessed is the wind that caresses your face.

Your hair, in the breeze, is linen and lace;
Your lips, in the eve, have filled me with cheer.
No flower can best your beauty and grace!

When the sun smiles upon your arms in embrace,
Your eyes, full of life, like embers appear.
Oh, blessed is the wind that caresses your face.

As you twirl in your dance, your steps I'll retrace;
The day that we wed, I'll forever revere.
No flower can best your beauty and grace!

Oh, come, my beloved, let's go to our place
And ignite our love till sunrise is here.
Oh, blessed is the wind that caresses your face!
No flower can best your beauty and grace!

Image by JacksonDavid via Pixabay

Poetic form: Villanelle

Reminiscing

The vinyl record lies untouched
And wears a coat of dust.
For many years, no hands have clutched
To play the songs of lovers crushed,
Poetic lines that speak of trust
And life that is unjust.

A man sits down to rest his bones;
His day at work was hard.
He shuts his eyes, which seem like stones,
To chase away his aches and groans,
But feels a pain he can't discard,
For life has dealt his card.

He fondly starts to reminisce
And sees himself with her.
He longs to feel her tender kiss,
To bask in years of wedded bliss,
To breathe her jasmine mixed with myrrh—
His heart begins to stir.

His teary eyes allow a glance
At where the record lies.
Recalling how they loved to dance
Beneath a moonlit night's expanse
And gaze beyond adoring eyes,
He sighs her name and cries.

He reaches for and plays a song
To hear her words once more.
His mind takes flight and treks along
The paths they took when they were strong—
The mornings walking on the shore,
Where love for her, he swore.

He hears the voice that crowns her words—
A healing song of glee.
Like arias of rhythmic birds,
It balms his heart of shattered thirds,
Unshackling pain to set it free,
As if she heard his plea.

Image by Jace & Afsoon via Unsplash

Poetic form: Sexain - Elegy

Published at The Society of Classical Poets

A Walk At Night

She's clothed in light when she appears;
Freckles speck her argent skin.
Her dazzling smile is bright tonight,
A lamp to earth's unhurried spin.

I gaze at her ascending form
And smile at her flirtatious ways.
The times she hides behind a cloud
While bathing in her lover's rays.

For endless times, she's danced the nights
As waking stars relight the skies.
She walks with couples strolling by
And shares the glow her beau supplies.

Around me ring the songs of life,
Cacophonies that please the mind.
Above, I see applauding stars;
They seem like fireflies entwined.

My grateful eyes return to her,
Now fully bright, like beaming brides.
It brings to mind the one I love,
The girl in whom my heart resides.

Image by susan-lu4esm via Pixabay

Poetic form: Quatrain

Inner Beauty

Alas, my flower's glow begins to fade,
And all that I can do is share her fate.
Her lustrous eyes display a dimmer shade,
Surrendering to time their lively state.
Her supple petal wilts and pales with age,
And gone are all the days that time betrayed.
Although I've loved the turning of each page,
It saddens me to see the tolls she's paid.
But time cannot erase the bond we hold
Or change the inner grace that she displays.
That charm, which aging eyes can still behold,
Has sealed for endless days my loving gaze.
So even if her beauty fades with time,
My flower's inner grace remains sublime.

Image by geraldfriedrich2 via Pixabay

Poetic form: Sonnet

To You, My Wife

To you, my wife, my love, I declare.
My joy and gain, a gift to me, blessed,
A morning flower of beauty and flair!

O flesh of mine, this heart you repair
Whenever sadness tramples my rest.
To you, my wife, my love, I declare.

Your lips of honey with me you share.
I cherish the nights your softness I quest,
A morning flower of beauty and flair!

Each day we rise, our feelings we bare,
Smiling with joy, our fondness to crest.
To you, my wife, my love, I declare.

While holding hands, we walk without care.
O love, with you, I know I've been blest,
A morning flower of beauty and flair!

Unending life with you is my prayer;
Eternity sighs the words I've confessed.
To you, my wife, my love, I declare,
A morning flower of beauty and flair!

Image by Takmeomeo via Pixabay

Poetic form: Villanelle

What She Wants

If I could give one thing to her,
What would she want that thing to be?
A diamond sparkling on her hand,
Or roses laid across the sea?

Would she prefer a string of pearls,
A golden necklace, earrings too?
Or maybe homes in Southern France;
A charming cottage with a view.

Perhaps a gown of choicest silk,
A voyage on the open sea,
Or bank accounts where money flows,
Expensive shoes, a spending spree?

I'd gladly give these things to her
Without a pause, had I the means.
But I'm a simple, humble man
Of scanty wealth and tattered jeans.

I did find out from my dear wife,
One autumn day under a tree,
That all she wants is my true love
And spend eternity with me.

Image by Pixabay

Poetic form: Quatrain

If Only

If only I could dial back the years
To when we met and knew we'd fall in love.
I would erase the times I caused your tears
And brighten all your nights as stars above.

If only you could hear my verses sung,
You'd surely know my heart has ached for you.
I rue the stolid words my thoughtless tongue
Had voiced to make your happy days turn blue.

If only you could read my mournful heart,
Your own would feel the pain I always hold.
A pain that lingers still and won't depart
Until the day my blood is running cold.

But now, in silver years, all I can do
Is love you even more than when we wed,
To treasure all the moments I'm with you
As I recite the words my pen has bled.

Image by annca via Pixabay

Poetic form: Quatrain

Should Words Fail Me

Should I be lying on our bed
As darkness waits for my last breath,
Upon your face I wish to shed
My one last glance, then laugh at death.

Should frailty cause my arms to die
And hugs I can no longer share,
Please know with every breath I sigh,
My love for you I will declare.

Should darkness veil my aging eyes
And keep your lovely face from me,
I will replay the smile I prize,
Within my mind, where I can see.

Should words then fail to freely flow
From my old lips to say goodbye,
With my last breath you'll surely know
How deeply you are loved, and why.

Image by Diego PH via Unsplash

Poetic form: Quatrain

Endless Bloom

She worries that her softest bloom is gone,
The beauty that was hers in younger years.
She reminisces days of early dawn,
When flawless skin awoke to gleeful cheers.
She frets her steps have lost their sultry dance,
Her slender figure time has cast away.
She dreads her crown to white will soon advance,
So feels it is in vain to hide her gray.
But I don't see the years her mirror shows,
Instead I view a bloom's maturing glow.
Her smile, her lively eyes and button nose,
Are still like early days of long ago.
The mirror only sees her graying years,
But I the graceful bloom beneath the tears.

Image by Bessi via Pixabay

Poetic form: Sonnet

The poem in video form

Raindrops Call

A storm descends to mar the day
As he looks out from the café.
It brings to mind forgotten pain—
The time he wept like falling rain.

He now replays his early years,
The day it poured with pleading tears.
He was naïve, too young to know
The bitter pain that love can sow.

Her amber skin, kissed by the sun,
Was like the softest fabric spun.
Her walk and smile would brighten days
When sadness hung like walls of haze.

Her eyes were twins of burning coal
That set ablaze the heart she stole.
His breath her pouting lips would take,
Which moved his heart with love to wake.

But like all tales of ages gone,
Of love that's young, like early dawn,
The brighter light can soon expose
Infatuation's gasping throes.

He hears a voice as raindrops fall.
They join as one; for her, they call.
The tears he shed the day she left.
The tears he shed the day she left.

Image by ronymichaud via Pixabay

Poetic form: Couplet

Intangible

I rise at dawn with thoughts of you,
A graceful girl that I once knew.
The shore extends a warm invite
To trace the steps you left in flight.

The surf replays melodic tunes
As it caresses sandy dunes.
The sand gives way to stepping feet
Awash in waves that then repeat.

The seagulls circle as they fly
With calls that lace the morning sky.
They tell of times we warmly shared
And all the love in words declared.

But now, all that remains of you
Are wispy whispers sighing blue.
Intangible, as you've become,
To airy whispers, I succumb.

Image by Angel L. Villanueva

Poetic form: Couplet

Unforgotten

He sits alone while waves surround his feet
As gulls in flight incite his mind to wake.
The sand gives way to water in retreat
But leaves behind the echoes of his ache.

It has been years since he last saw her face,
And yet he still recalls her graceful form.
He can't let go of days in her embrace,
For deep within remains a latent storm.

Her images caress his pleading mind,
And then he questions why she let him die.
The answer that he seeks he fails to find;
In endless whispers, he keeps asking, 'Why?'

The sleepy sun begins to close its eye
Just as he feels the storm inside him stir.
With trembling lips, he tries to say goodbye,
But merely has the strength for words to slur.

He writes her name atop the dampened sand
And sees her striking beauty once again.
A wave begins to stretch and spread its hand,
Then carries her away, but not the pain.

Image by Pexels via Pixabay

Poetic form: Quatrain

My Belle

Tonight, I wonder with a sigh
As she lies here, right by my side,
What I would be as time went by
Had she declined to be my bride.

Would I be happy? Deeply sad?
Would I feel empty, even lost?
Would I regret the life I had?
Would I forget our paths had crossed?

I frown to think of life alone,
Of years without her form to hold.
Such thoughts at night of things unknown
Are laced in dreams since time untold.

And yet, it’s silly that I dwell
On thoughts of sadness late at night,
For she has been my lovely belle
Since we first met, so all is right.

Photo by Juliette F via Unsplash

Poetic form: Quatrain

Till Death Us Part

I recall the years gone by,
Married young—such hopeful eyes.
Counting days since that July,
Thirty years, plus six, our ties.

Happy days and blissful nights
Joined the times of tears and ache.
Through it all, our love reached heights
Stronger than what hate could break.

Here we stand, as time has passed;
Closer still we have become.
Looking back, we knew we'd last
Through the years that were to come.

Glowing deep within my heart,
Flames of love for you still burn.
Growing old till we depart,
Then to dust we'll both return.

Image by satyamkumarpe via Pixabay

Poetic form: Quatrain - Trochee

Endless Dream

I walk the trail, in hopes of reaching you,
As winter sheds her tears of crystal ice.
I rise above snowdrifts, the trail to view,
But find my steps alone do not suffice.
I crawl across ascending mounds of snow
As yearnings for your touch keep urging on.
You grant to me the strength when I am low,
The many times near death my breath has drawn.
But I wake up, the same as other nights,
Alone again, for love has been denied.
Then dawn arrives anew, as searing lights,
While frozen tears the trail proceeds to hide.
My endless dream denies a final climb,
But patiently I wait for love sublime.

Image by KELLEPICS via Pixabay

Poetic form: Sonnet

One Last Candle

The angry storm approaches in the night,
Its curdling howl is heard for miles around.
The trees all flinch in fear of nature's smite,
Then cast their sobbing leaves upon the ground.
No soul dare venture out to face the storm,
For nature's wrath is not so lightly scorned.
The lights go out as winds in anger swarm;
The frightened city now lies unadorned.
Yet here I lie in rest with you, my love,
As candles lift the veil that darkness brings.
Securely sleeping like a peaceful dove,
Your arms around me are your regal wings.
I gaze at you when calm outside returns
And kiss your face as one last candle burns.

Image by Pexel

Poetic form: Sonnet

This Leaf

Oh, this leaf!
This leaf, to my chest, I cleave!
For it holds within itself
The image of your supple lips;
I enjoy your scented breath
When you share your lips with me.

Oh, this leaf!
How wondrous it looks to me!
Its shape and crimson hues
Awaken thoughts I hold of you.
I relish the luscious softness
When you share your lips with me.

Oh, this leaf!
How can I ever release?
When I'm apart from you,
It reminds me of what can be.
How can I contain this heart
When you share your lips with me?

Photo Credit: Alexander Kobtsev - Best of Russia

Poetic form: Free Verse

Her Vow

Along the banks of River Rhine,
She walks alone tonight.
Her eyes are fixed above the sky
To find a comet's flight.

She'll name it for the one she lost
When death approached one night,
To carry on his noble name,
Where stars are born in light.

Cologne and Basel, Strasbourg too,
Observe with keen delight,
For from her lips now flows a song
That only angels write.

Her words of love move heavenward
As tears of pain cascade.
She speaks of him with tenderness
And vows his name won't fade.

Image by LisaChe via Pixabay

Poetic form: Quatrain - Ballad

Lasting Beauty

The early years have departed;
Brief is the course of life.
Yet, time’s passing has not
Dimmed the love in my heart.
For though your outer bloom
Has gradually faded,
Your inner beauty remains.
Loving and affectionate,
Your grace ties my
Heart to your own
And will hold me captive
Until death from me demands
My unpaid debt.

Image by JillWellington via Pixabay

Poetic form: Free Verse

The Painting

The painting is all he has
To remind him of her grace.
A beauty so rich and deep,
The colors offer but a trace.

He walks toward the frame,
Her image on the wall,
Then stops to view her face
As tears begin to fall.

His fingers touch her lips,
Then pleads for her return.
But death derides his tears,
The tears he can't unlearn.

When at night she owns his dreams,
In soliloquy, his heart despairs,
For her presence on their bed,
The painting cannot share.

Image courtesy of paintingvalley.com CC BY-NC 4.0 License

Poetic form: Quatrain

Which One Is The Rose

In silence, from a distance,
My eyes are drawn to your face.
I start reciting poems
Of love wrapped softly in lace.

I yearn for a closer look;
Her hands caress you lightly.
Your fragrance she enjoys;
Her eyes she closes slightly.

I adore your stunning glow,
A crimson painting ablaze,
Resplendent in appearance,
As you glory in her praise.

When I am close to you,
I pause to relish the view
And offer grateful words
To the one who holds you, too.

But when she looks at me,
My heart is stunned anew,
Clearly discerning now,
The rose is her with you.

Image source: Shibumi - Desktop Nexus

Poetic form: Quatrain

Walk With Me

Hold my hand,
walk with me;
allow me to show you
the stages of our love
in this wonderful journey...
eros—for your beauty consumes me;
agape—for it is unconditional;
storge—for deep is our affection;
philia—for unbreakable is our friendship.
And so,
as we walk hand in hand,
enduring arduous times,
setbacks and obstacles,
remember,
the stages of our love
will nourish us,
strengthen us,
cement us,
until we reach our destination,
in eternity's embrace.

Photo source : photoartinc.com/free-wedding-photos-3/

Poetic form: Free Verse