Theme · 15 poems

Love Poems for Her

Poems to give a wife, girlfriend, or the woman you can't quite find your own words for — classics of devotion and short verses that fit inside a card.

The poems men have addressed to women fill half the canon, and the best two take opposite approaches. Byron's 'She Walks in Beauty' is the perfect compliment, polished until it glows; Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 ('My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun') teases every cliché in the book before landing the sincerest ending of all — she's real, and loved anyway.

That's the working spectrum: radiant or honest, and the honest ones tend to land harder. Whichever you choose, write one line of your own beneath it that names something specific only she does. The classic supplies the music; the detail proves you were paying attention.

LengthForm

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

William Shakespeare · 1609

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

14 lines · sonnet

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning · 1850

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

14 lines · sonnet

A Red, Red Rose

Robert Burns · 1794

O my Luve is like a red, red roseThat's newly sprung in June;O my Luve is like the melody

16 lines · ballad

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron · 1814

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that's best of dark and bright

18 lines · lyric

Roses Are Red (For Her, Who Hates Mornings)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, the kettle is on,you're grumpy and gorgeous each day before dawn;and I'd give up sunrises, gladly, forever,

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (But They Fade in a Day)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, but they fade in a day;the chocolates get eaten, the cards thrown away.So here is the one gift that time won't undo:

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (For the One Who Steals the Blankets)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, my feet are like ice,you've stolen the duvet — not once, dear, but twice;yet I'd shiver forever, frostbitten and blue,

4 lines · roses are red

What I Mean by Beautiful

The QuillOak Editors

You think it's the dress.It isn't the dress.It's you on a Tuesday,

7 lines · free verse

The Porch Light

The QuillOak Editors

The best part of my commuteis the last turn before our street,when the porch light you leave on

7 lines · free verse

The Mug You Claimed

The QuillOak Editors

There's a mug in my cupboardI'm not allowed to use —chipped, wrong color, yours

8 lines · free verse

Passenger Seat

The QuillOak Editors

You fall asleep on highways,head against the glass,trusting me with eighty miles an hour

8 lines · free verse

How You Take Your Coffee

The QuillOak Editors

I know the way you take your coffee,half a sugar, too much cream;I know which song you skip, embarrassed,

8 lines · lyric

Evidence

The QuillOak Editors

For her, who asks if I love her:see attached —one umbrella tilted your way all of March,

8 lines · free verse

Slow Dance in the Kitchen

The QuillOak Editors

We never learned the proper steps,we sway more than we dance,the dinner's burning on the stove,

8 lines · lyric

Still

The QuillOak Editors

After all the years and weather,after every flight delayed,after arguments in IKEA

8 lines · lyric

Common questions

What is a romantic poem to say to her?

Byron's 'She Walks in Beauty' is the classic compliment; Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 is the honest one — it teases the clichés, then lands the sincerity. Pick whichever sounds more like you.

How do I write a love poem for my girlfriend or wife?

Skip 'beautiful' and name three specific things only she does. Specificity is the entire secret — the poem just needs to prove you noticed.