poems about love

A lover is a slender, glowing urn
On beauty's shrine, his heart is incense sweet,
Which with his eye-lit torch young love doth burn;
Then from its ardor cloudy ringlets fleet,
That we call sighs, and they with perfume turn
Upwards, his mistress' whisperings to meet.
The breezy whispers and the sighs embrace,
Like pink-winged clouds mixing above the hill,
And from their lovely toyings spring a race
Of tears, which saunter down in cheek-banked rill,
Silvering with sparkling coil the fair one's face;

A lovely rose is sprung,
Out of a tender root,
As men of old have sung,
From Jesse's stem a shoot.
And so a flower bright
Has bloomed in coldest winter
E'en in the deepest night.

The little rose I mean
Whereof Isaiah told,
Pure Mary, maid serene
Brought forth alone — behold:
Through God's eternal might
A little child she bore us
E'en in the deepest night.

Lovely lady, rein thy will,
Let my words a warning be,
Bid thy longing heart be still.
Wed no man. Remember me.

If my counsel like thee not,
Winsome beauty, bright of blee,
Thou knows't not what deeds I've wrought.
Wed no man. Remember me.

If thou knows't not they are clay:
That slim form eyes may not see,
That round breast silk hides away.
Wed no man. Remember me.

Keep my counsel lest thou slip.
If love or hate men offer thee,
Hide thy heart and hoard thy lip.
Wed no man. Remember me.

Love winged my hopes and taught me how to fly.
Far from base earth, but not to mount too high.
For true pleasure
Lives in measure,
Which, if men forsake,
Blinded they into folly run, and grief for pleasure take.

But my vain hopes, proud of their new-taught flight,
Enamored, sought to woo the sun's fair light,
Whose rich brightness
Moved their lightness
To aspire so high,
That, all scorched and consumed with fire, now drowned in woe they lie.

And none but Love their woeful hap did rue;

Love thy God and love Him only:
And thy breast will ne'er be lonely.
In that one great Spirit meet
All things mighty, grave and sweet.
Vainly strives the soul to mingle
With a being of our kind:
Vainly heart with our hearts are twined.
For the deepest still is single.
An impalpable resistance
Holds like nature's still at distance.
Mortal! Love that Holy One!
Or dwell for aye alone.

The love that I hae chosen,
I'll therewith be content;
The saut sea sall be frozen
Before that I repent.
Repent it sall I never
Until the day I dee;
But the Lawlands o' Holland
Hae twinn'd my love and me.

My love he built a bonny ship,
And set her to the main,
Wi' twenty-four brave mariners
To sail her out and hame.
But the weary wind began to rise,
The sea began to rout,
And my love and his bonny ship
Turned withershins about.

There sall nae mantle cross my back,

VERSE 1

Though it's a fickle age,
With flirting all the rage,
Here is one bird with self-control,
Happy inside my cage.
I know who I love best,
Thumbs down on all the rest,
My love was given heart and soul,
So it can stand the test.

REFRAIN

No one to talk with,
All by myself,
No one to walk with
But I'm happy on the shelf,
Ain't misbehavin',
I'm savin' my love for you.
I know for certain
The one I love,

Love somebody, yes I do;
Love somebody, yes I do;
Love somebody, yes I do;
Love somebody, but I won't tell who.
Love somebody, yes I do;
Love somebody, yes I do;
Love somebody, yes I do;
And I hope somebody loves me too.

Love somebody, yes I do;
Love somebody, yes I do;
Love somebody, yes I do;
Love somebody, but I won't tell who.
Love somebody, yes I do;
Love somebody, yes I do;
Love somebody, yes I do;
'Tween sixteen and twenty-two.

VERSE

I expect every one
Of my crowd to make fun
Of my proud protestations of faith in romance,
And they'll say I'm naive
As a babe to believe
Any fable I hear from a person in pants.
Fearlessly I'll face them and argue their doubts away.
Loudly I'll sing about flowers and spring.
Flatly I'll stand on my little flat feet and say,
Love is a grand and a beautiful thing!
I'm not ashamed to reveal
The world-famous feeling I feel.

REFRAIN

— Love not too much. But how,
When thou hast made me such,
And dost thy gifts bestow,
How can I love too much?
— Though I must fear to lose,
And drown my joy in care,
With all its thorns I choose
The path of love and prayer.

— Though thou, I know not why,
Didst kill my childish trust,
That breach with toil did I
Repair, because I must:
— And spite of frighting schemes,
With which the fiends of Hell
Blaspheme thee in my dreams,
So far I have hoped well.

— But what the heavenly key,