How To Write A Love Poem

Love poems are a wonderfully romantic gesture and can often express your own thoughts far more eloquently that you could in conversation.

If you have a talent with words, why not take a few quiet moments and try your hand at writing a poem for your lover? Even if it won't win you a literary prize, the person you present it to will most likely treasure it as if it were written by one of the great romantic poets of the nineteenth century. It's another example of people appreciating a personalized gift far more than one that's purchased. What they're really appreciating is the time and effort invested on their behalf.

I'd like to share the story of the first time I received a love poem.

When I was twelve years old I had a crush on Robert, the new boy in my class at school. One afternoon we were waiting at the bus stop after school when he announced that he didn't like me anymore - he was now in love with my best friend, Julie.

I was so incensed by this betrayal that I lunged at him and chased him down the street. He raced into the gutter and I bolted after him just as the bus was pulling in. It hit me from behind and I went down. The bus then ran over my right foot.

A short time later, the ambulance arrived and the driver examined me. He decided that I didn't need hospitalization so he drove me home with instructions to spend the next six weeks in bed. Meanwhile, Robert was distraught as he felt responsible for my accident. He asked the other kids at the bus stop if anyone knew where I lived. One of them did so he walked the two miles to my house. Then he sat across the street wondering if my father would strangle him if he knocked at the front door.

A couple of hours later Robert worked up the courage to confront my father, which turned out to be something of an anti-climax. He walked sheepishly into my room and handed me a piece of paper. He had written a poem for me as he sat across the street from my house. I remember how thrilled I was that someone would write a poem especially for me. It was like something out of a novel or a movie.

I kept the poem, which ran to one and a half legal pages, for a number of years until it disappeared with a box on my most precious mementos when we moved house a decade later. But I still remember the first four lines:

Her name is Marguerite
I very much like that girl
She means much more to me
Than any gem or pearl

That was a lifetime ago and yet those lines have remained in my memory.

As for the boy himself, by the time I got back to school Robert had moved on to greener pastures (he now liked my best friend's new best friend). But that hardly mattered as I was now a minor celebrity because I got hit by a bus while chasing a boy. The nuns had a field day praying for my soul, which was not the last time they'd engage in that futile exercise.

My right foot is still a little flatter than my left but it was worth it for the notoriety. And hey, Robert, wherever you are, thanks for the memory.

Using Other People's Love Poems
If you don't have Robert's literary talent, there is another option. Find an existing poem that best expresses how you feel and present it to your lover inside a greeting card or gift.

There are a number of sites online that offer love poems. You can find a list on our web site.