Love Poetry Quotes

“I fell for you
at the time when
the leaves were hiding their souls
deep within the earth.”
― Monica Laura Rapeanu, The Void That Reflects Your Beauty

“Hurt strengthens the heart,
Breakdown emboldens backbone.
Scars shared are scars cared,
I stand ready to sip your poison.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition): 100 Turkish Poems with Translations

“I dreamt of you in my fiercest nights,
I craved for you in my suffering frights.
I ached for you on my brightest flights,
I trekked the galaxy seeking your sight.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Either Right or Human: 300 Limericks of Inclusion

“My crisis is you,
My comfort is you.
My courage is you,
My cowardice is you.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“Hand in hand, my love, come away
with me into the blackness—

by the trunk of an old strong oak:

I long to hold you
all through the night
and, knowing not of dawn,
to not talk once—
a pair of hands
nightswept-earth….


Dawning starlight above
splinters the sky to nerves—

now's time for leaving:

poised on the verge
of shorelines burgeoning
everything inside is
raw and tingling….

Over the mountain in utter aloneness
winds are blowing in a cold void….

Just a few promises I’d packed
when I made my way east

like a cloud torn from moorings

always there've been those of us
who sought their origins
on the road
— under an empty moon—
and the origins of origins….

In electrical well-spring vision

nuzzled in the bosom of hills
on the roaming magnetic earth—

far away though they are
the cloud-river
of stars configures
over and over
these visions of you….

Shaking off its dust—
that glittering icy swirl abides….

On the roaming magnetic earth
lying flat, my eyes shocked awake

by the electric liquid light:

chilling winds do not chill me
I know no harm can hold me
even a killing wound will only
seep me back into the stars...

be seeping out from me:

in the float of her womb
and cradled from the cold—
that cradle-of-stars hanging
the milky way….

Over the bay just-beginning—a cusp and
crescent sliver—by the constellations paling fading….

Transient as I am
from before and into after—

like blue vapor, breath travels
in a light from long ago…

here though I knew she'd be
to be here with her
in scorn of all happenstance
is more than a choice:

a joy that's almost loss—
lightning and paralysis….

The blue fire of delight flickers
through sockets of her skull—

so all the world knows not

or pretends not to know:
a person takes a lifetime
to get to know
but the thrill of remembrance
when our eyes met

was just one instant:
it happens all the time….”
― Mark Kaplon, Song of Rainswept Sand

“I say most truly that at that moment the spirit of life, which hath its dwelling in the secretest chamber of the heart, began to tremble so violently that the least pulses of my body shook therewith; and in trembling it said these words: Ecce deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur mihi, (“Here is a deity stronger than I ; who, coming, shall rule over me.”)”
― Dante Alighieri, Vita Nuova

“What else could eternity be?
on the surface a waterlily

holds shadowy depths
just-kissed with clouds
and rouge surfacing
— on the water’s edge

just-bound, just-bound to break,
and change, but never does....

By rippling refracted waterlight
she dances like a reflection

before me— like a mirage
I watch the visage of her

— and reach for her body
like coursing water
like pulsing-liquid her body
like flesh-contained breath….

Fingers entwine o’er fingers
we thread agile on the trail

over vines and brambles:

by the turn of her head
into tree shade
she shows me the nests
hidden in thickets….

Delighted by the lightness
of her touch, the quickness

of her brow— and notice:
the heaviness
of her breasts
I, too, am carrying….

Oh with her calm, receptive walk
and her quiet, sensitive talk

and with the posture
in which she sits
which slows down
and softens my speech….

Of her am I moved to study
and to muse: how this moment

in the movement of
her swallowing hips
she's a lover, and this moment
behind her sisters

— her nose turned to air—

she walks with childhood,
and now in the shape
of her vase-body she reveals
motherliness, and now

in this moment she is in this
moment she is in this moment….

Now, today we leave this valley
for my love we've a world to show

we've friends, elders, the people to show—
the purple glow
of our presence
the gravity
of our having-met….”
― Mark Kaplon, Song of Rainswept Sand

“If you saw, my solemnity,
in the distance the shore

that night that shone
like electricity on the foam

if you saw the clouds
the close, homey glow
if you could have saw the stars
the brink of the ocean

and beyond: oceans
upon oceans surrounding….

Dwelling in the wells of her eyes
is a thing like resting—

a thing like, embers of evening
having gone to set
I sit absorbed
in empty depths
beneath the midnight moon….

Mingling of mists, hue and movement
with a faint trace of form—

in windswept pouring blue:

it's no matter who she's been
to me she is a virgin
like the very first kin
twin versions of one….

To-night things of the world are chill
in the light of this one-color realm:

like moon-swept stone's
the skin of her face—
too distant,
and too still,
for my lips
just-here to kiss….

Look— to the gravity of her gaze
your aim hangs suspended:

I looked once and ceased from longing—

ceased as when, freed
of earth's shadow
equal and radiant and whole
that transparent sphere floats
in perfect balance….”
― Mark Kaplon, Song of Rainswept Sand

“Oh, Perseus—your glory shall wither and fall,
In the shadow of serpents, you’ll hear my call.
Your victory is hollow, your name is a lie—
For I am the storm, and I shall never die.”
― Mason Carter, Gothic Poems to Love & Liberty: A Collection of Poems on Myths & Broken Hearts

“तुम दूर हो गए हमसे पर, ना हुए जुदा”
― Krupesh Thacker, Na Hue Judaa (ना हुए जुदा)

“अब तेरी प्यारी वो बातें, मेरे चहेरे का नूर है,
तू नही है पर मेरी साँसें, तेरी खुश्बू से भरपूर है,”
― Krupesh Thacker, Na Hue Judaa (ना हुए जुदा)

“Morning's Serenade by Stewart Stafford

Stirred by a magpie's auction bids,
I opened up our curtained eyelids,
To pale dawn's reverential blinking,
Beyond my lady's distant inkling.

Anointed by the infant sun's rays,
I stand in regal morning’s praise;
Surveying virgin domain’s expanse,
Before the hatchling public dance.

The early-risen owl hoots carried far,
The songbirds played off fading stars,
Cockcrow drew in a loping red fox,
Scattering fawns and sheep flocks.

My lady spent, sports a drowsy crown,
Her chest rises, then slowly down,
Cityscape visions to last night's desire,
Golden tresses tossed in oriole fire.

To the kitchen, a connoisseur's start,
A lover's labour, a chef's work of art,
Crack avian treasures, new life's motif.
Ground coffee, perfumed weekend relief.

© Stewart Stafford, 2024. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Peach Cobbler



You stirred the pot.
Taking parts of you.
Parts of me.
The good, the bad.
Even the things that aren’t
So pretty to look at.
And poured them into
The pan.
It’s easy to forget about
The hurt until you come
Face to face with it.
Sour peaches aren’t the end
Of the world.
No matter how we layer it.
These are the things we’ve
Come to love about each other.
Even the hurt becomes mixed
In a sugar glaze with enough time.
No matter how bitter.
The brown of my skin
Mixed with yours.
A recipe that’s been done
And passed down before our time.
No matter how much of a mess
We think that things are,
No matter how bruised a peach
We accidentally pick up.
Nothing can replace the warmth
Of a cobbler.
Straight from the oven.
Soon we’ll both be fast asleep.
Your head rising and falling on my chest
With each breath I take.”
― Kewayne Wadley

“Redemption (Love Sonnet)

My crisis is you,
My comfort is you.
My courage is you,
My cowardice you.

My solace is you,
my menace is you.
My prowess is you,
my encumbrance too.

You are my curse,
my only cure.
You are my answer
to selfish lure.

You are my redemption,
my petrification.
You're my fearlessness,
my chosen damnation.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Divine Refugee

“Chatting to the gossip of flames
waking from the slumber of

our flesh-drunk night together—

it’s only when I step out
to pee do I notice—
how far, burgundy-dark,
the moon has risen….

On four paws the shepherd-
dogs bound, lightly

though the trees they

hardly touch on earth—
we saw it from far
sunk here
in an always-ache….

Dyeing paling twilight woods—
a pair of wasps, spiraling, writhe….

Wetted lips of hers
and mine, just-parted,

move over each other

with tongues just-coming
but refuse—
like mists of evening
they've no place to settle….

Just-here though she's singing
she’s in some song from long ago—

poised on the brink
of twilight longing
three thousand miles
rush through my heart….

Under undulating curtains—

I hover above her
the tips of me brushing
the tips of her—
breathing back and forth
a column of air

we share our breath
slowly asphyxiating….

From burning wood campfire sparks dart off
extinguishing in the wet blue dark…

how you blow your long wind
across my embers,
through my soul, she pleads me,
take away the pain—

I dip a branch in blue water
and plunge it into coals….

***

In pre-dawn dark, against
a leaping inferno of flames

black monolith of wood
in the cast iron compartment
softens, and—gradually— fractures
to cells, warping upward,

until from the top a shard splinters:
pearls of flame string a fiber
and leap in little tongues
while the log, glowing, engulfed,

is consumed by the inferno contained….

A shadow daunts me, haunts and taunts me
now reaching far, now recoiling, now growing bold….

I once sang eruptions and the wind—

then appeared you
it took my whole life
singing only the songs of you
and still I sing for you

what other refuge
can stay me from this torment?

So— my doppelganger has arrived
no one said it would happen this way

but the way his hands
fold like mine, the style
of his humor, broadness of his smile—
even the way he walks….

Licking and lapping these lashings
of grasses are in tongues at my feet

smoldering's the fury within me—

I have seen my fields of daylight warp
to noxious-air infernos
but still to the clean blue of the flame
I take rest in her breast….

His songs I mouth, and in my head
is his voice— I cannot hear my own….

in my mind I see myself— thin,
stupid— my arms too weak,
my own chest too frail— and besides
I prefer him more….

Along spiral lines, seed-heads decay— swept away
they whirl and writhe in the hot blue fire of evening….

Stuck in a mural of sticky flesh— the family…
I am locked-in-arms with brothers

and sisters, drooping at the thighs
with nieces and nephews,
grafted to parents at the scalp, and
pasted with toddlers all over…

hived, sapped, black I sit, subject
to the flavors and aromas of your abuse….

Then— be wrapped in his presence…

crescendo to his warmth
the cascade of your laughter
search in his wrinkles
for the boy inside him…

I’m just biding here, bragless,
trying to admit these
rival-streams that flow
in one latticework of blood….

Halves of flesh and bosomy hips, lips
like dark ripe fruits they're chasing—

I chased them…

full-feathered was their hair
like floss in the sunshine
fine-fingered was their style
like laces cut to curves:

and then there was you,
returning one, just there
like the midnight moon
in my sky at noontime….”
― Mark Kaplon

“But, at the end of the day,
if you ever think you were wrong about it all,
I'm here where I have always been:
sitting by the harbor, waiting for you to walk to me again.”
― Athena Violante, The ones who could never stay

“She is not territory, she is temple (Sonnet)

She is not a territory to conquer,
she is a temple that grants
entry only through trust,
even the gaze must be earned.

I'll never get down on one knee,
if I do, I'll get down on both knees -
absolute surrender, nothing left out.

I don't wanna be a tourist, a passing fling,
I am a pilgrim to your love, to your life,
and at times when you permit, to your body.

By default all women are my sisters,
I may make an exception if I lose my heart,
even then my conscience wouldn't allow filth,
till I've earned her unwavering trust.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“Those tender lips, whose dimpled sway
Can even chase suspense away!”
― Mary Matilda Betham, The Lay of Marie

“a look
into
our horoscopes

your smirk
and a
dirty joke

lukewarm tea
and
pack of smokes

chocolate bar
and a
cherry coke”
― Rachel Louise Finn, The Shit You Call Love

“Love speaks without words,
And it's easy to see.
Though sometimes undercut by false mimicry,
Love takes a hold in so many ways
That you know it's not blind by the end of the day
Because you can see what it does
And how it makes you feel,
How it pushes through trials
And holds tight to what's real.
Love lives behind what we say on the outside.
It's the words we use, then, combined,
With the feeling we get
When we're close and confined,
And the way our bodies speak
With perfect design.”
― Emma vanGrieken

“Dashing through the snow,
with a one track mind you slay!
None can blind your goal,
or force you go astray!

Stronger than the sleet,
bolder than the hail,
on you ride the waves,
daring through dismay!

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
jingle all the way –
all is sweet around you dear,
your absence makes it lay.

O, jingle bells, jingle bells,
jingle rings joy true.
Earth has plenty ancient art,
but the bravest art is you.”
― Abhijit Naskar

“Nazmahal, Sonnet (Palace of Grace)

Love is nothing to be ashamed of,
if there is no filth in your heart.
If your heart is pure and chaste,
you have no reason to be shy or scared.

Shame and fear are mark of filth,
heart without blemish is icon of honor.
Basic flaws are part of everyday life,
but perversion isn't a flaw, it's dishonor.

I've never looked at a person with
filth, unless permitted otherwise.
It's consent and context that
distinguish fondness from filth.

Lovers ablaze are resident of Nazmahal*,
perverts have no place in *palace-of-grace.
Honor is in the eye of the beholder,
without which all mind is disgrace.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Azad Earth Army: When The World Cries Blood

“When my voice is gone,
my breath no more,
I’ll leave my love on every shore,
So the waves and winds will sing for me—
“I love you, endlessly.”
― Ritu Negi, Collywobbles

“আমরা যারা ভালোবেসেছি তাদের সবার গায়েই পোড়া গন্ধ লেগে"

"All of us who have loved carry the scent of burning.”
― Mriganka Sekhar Ganguly

“My skin memorised your touch.
Every piece of my skin
has memorised the feel
of your hands, your fingertips.
The touch of your lips
grazing my body.
How can this skin forget
such exquisiteness.”
― Onur Taşkıran

“Absence, hear thou my protestation
Against thy strength,
Distance and length:
Do what thou canst for alteration;
For hearts of truest mettle
Absence doth join, and time doth settle.”
― John Hoskins

“I taste poetry in your mouth, and the world forgets how to fall apart.”
― Diaksha Maharaj, Hold Me While I Decompose

“In English we say:
out of sight, out of mind.
In Naskarian we say:
out of love, out of life.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“He faced love without fear,
for he knew
the ache of not loving her
would be the far greater pain.”
― A.R. More

“We are given this hope –
we are give this promise.
A promise to a brand new night
of moonlight sonata.
The hope
to an enduring,
cheering and nurturing dawn
joined by brand new chapters
written under the care and witness
of thirteen thousand
five hundred and sixty-five
piles of ancient stars,
long trips, old books,
new dreams,
long kiss and fairy tales –
laid under the protective smiles
and strong arms
of thirteen miles
of these old and wise
olive trees.”
― Becky M.R.