“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.”
– Robert Frost
In the age of raps, Badshahs, Yo Yo Honey Singhs, and Gully Boys and MC Shers, we surely cannot forget the important contribution of poetry. There may be short stories, novels, essays, and blogs, but nothing quite as beautiful and creative as the verse that helps us understand the inner meaning of the thing called life.
I am an unheralded poet myself, and also enjoy reading poetry. Penning down a verse helps me de-clutter my mind and express my thoughts and emotions freely. And when I read the verses penned down by other poets, I feel as if I am in another world altogether – in Heaven.
Well, poetry is beautiful! Here are 11 beautiful poetic verses that will make your day if you are a poetry lover:
1. 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
—Lord Byron
Wow! This is a seductive one indeed! Lord Byron was one of the best and most sought-after poets of the 19th century. The fine tenderness in his love poems was simply irresistible!
2. I am not jealous
of what came before me.
Come with a man
on your shoulders,
come with a hundred men in your hair,
come with a thousand men between your breasts and your feet….
Bring them all
to where I am waiting for you;
we shall always be alone,
we shall always be you and I
alone on earth,
to start our life!
—Pablo Neruda
Having won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Neruda sure knew how to express the emotion of love frankly and boldly. A passionate modern poet, he made the art of writing sensuous poetry look so effortless!
3. 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
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning
My English Professor once very rightly said – “The depth in a lady writer’s work is much more than that of a man.” Seriously, what a verse by this marvelous poetess! Post-reading it, one would simply love being in love with the idea of love itself.
4. or if your wish be to close me, I and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending….
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
—e. e. cummings
Cummings was the first poet to pen down his poetry in lower case letters and by using random punctuations. Yes, he did break the rules, but his courage to set the trend made this style popular. This is a timeless poem, where he uses metaphors to express how he respects her boundaries and is ready to back out at the slightest sign of rejection.
5. 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, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.
—John Donne
This is a verse from ‘The Good-Morrow’ by John Donne. This kind of poetry used to be famous during that era – Metaphysical Poetry. The first two lines in the above verse stand out, and go on to show indeed that poetry is beautiful! And the best part is that Donne has used such a simple and lucid style, even though the idea of Metaphysical Poetry is pretty far-fetched.
6. Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Through the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
– Andrew Marvell
This is a verse from ‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell. This is again – Metaphysical Poetry. The man is trying to convince his coy lady love that their youth is but for a short period of time, and hence, they should not waste a single moment and make love soon. But one must not forget that lust does not last, but love does. And true love crashes through the barriers of time!
7. Last night, your memory stole into my heart—
as spring sweeps uninvited into barren gardens,
as morning breezes reinvigorate dormant deserts,
as a patient suddenly feels better, for no apparent reason …
—Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Pakistan’s most beloved modern poet Faiz further beautifies the elements of classical South Asian love poetry, as he celebrates the memory of love. Perfect!
8. Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
—Matthew Arnold
This verse is part of a beautiful honeymoon poem written on England’s Dover Beach by the poet shortly post his wedding. In fact, his wife was really charmed by the magical and entrancing passion in his love poems.
9. When you come to me, unbidden,
Beckoning me
To long-ago rooms,
Where memories lie.
Offering me, as to a child, an attic,
Gatherings of days too few.
Baubles of stolen kisses.
Trinkets of borrowed loves.
Trunks of secret words,
I cry.
—Maya Angelou
The poet, here, talks about the pain of human vulnerability. Love proves to be the key that unlocks Angelou’s storehouse of immense pain and innumerable secrets.
10. I turn away
and close my heart—
to the promise of love
that is luring.
For the past has taught
to not be caught,
in what is not
worth pursuing—
To never do
the things I’ve done
that once had led
to my undoing.
– Lang Leav
This is Lang Leav’s ‘Afraid To Love’ from her book – Love & Misadventure. Simple, to-the-point, yet thought-provoking and leaves asking for more…
11. When has the voice of words spoken the truth
Real poetry is hidden in the drop on the page
– Kinshuk Sharma
Beautiful! Young Indian poet Kinshuk Sharma simply nails it through these lines, which according to me, are his best! This verse is from his book – Let It Go.
So, poetry is beautiful, isn’t it? Hope you enjoyed reading these verses. Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section below.