Love
Love encompasses a collection of noble and sincere feelings, representing a beautiful bond between two individuals. It is an emotion that cannot be concealed; no matter how hard we may try, love inevitably reveals itself, particularly through the eyes of those who feel it. Throughout history, poets have crafted countless verses dedicated to love, making it a theme that resonates deeply with the heart. In this article, we will showcase some of the most beautiful poems about love.
Love Poetry by Abu al-Qasim al-Shabi
Softness upon softness and a heart like mine can’t help but ache,
With sorrow increasing and tears that well.
The effort of longing is to be as I see,
A sleepless eye and a heart that beats.
No lightning flashes nor songbird sings,
Without me turning, my heart longing for thee.
I have felt the fire of love that never dies,
The flames that consume, yet I feel no pain.
I chastised the lovers until I tasted the ache,
And was amazed at how one can perish without love.
I excused them, and I recognized my fault,
For I insulted them and found in love what they too have known.
Love Poetry by Nizar Qabbani
I will tell you I love you…
When all the old languages of passion come to an end,
Leaving lovers with nothing to say or do.
At that moment, my task will begin,
To change the stones of this world,
Transforming them, tree by tree, planet by planet, poem by poem.
I will tell you I love you…
As the distance between your eyes and my notebooks narrows,
And the air you breathe passes through my lungs.
Your hand upon the car seat becomes my own.
I will confess it when I am able to conjure my childhood,
My horses, my soldiers, my paper boats,
And revive the blue moments with you on the shores of Beirut.
When you trembled like a fish between my fingers…
And I would cover you, as you drift into sleep,
With a sheet of summer stars.
I will tell you I love you…
As the wheat ripens and yearns for you,
As springs burst forth and civilizations awaken.
And birds learn to fly, as butterflies learn to paint.
I will tell you I love you
When all barriers between you and the poem vanish,
And it is not easy to sleep upon the page,
To drift beyond the rhythms of poetry,
Nor to engage with a body that I cannot spell out,
Word by word, verse by verse.
I do not suffer from a complex of intellectuals,
but rather, my nature rejects bodies that do not speak with wisdom.
The eyes that do not ask questions… To me, desire is conditioned by poetry,
For a woman is a poem I die when I write her,
And I perish when I forget her.
I will say I love you…
When I heal from the schism that tears me apart and return as one.
I will announce it when the city and desert reconcile within me,
And all the tribes depart from the shores of my blood,
Traced by the sages of the third world upon my body,
That I have endured for thirty years,
Which has distorted my masculinity and issued judgments of eighty lashes against you,
For the sin of femininity… Therefore, I shall not declare my love today,
Nor perhaps tomorrow.
Earth takes nine months to give birth to a flower,
And the night suffers greatly to birth its star.
Humanity waits thousands of years to bear a prophet,
So why can’t you wait a little longer
To become my beloved?
Love Poetry by Al-Mutanabbi
And I was not one to let love enter my heart,
But whoever sees your eyelids falls in love.
You lured me into a love that is deadly,
For whatever command you give, my heart obeys.
My heart has loved you as long as it beats,
If it dies, my echo follows you to the graves.
You are the delight of my heart and its torment,
How bitter you are within my heart and how sweet!
It is not strange for lovers to perish out of love,
But the survival of lovers is indeed remarkable.
Love has crawled into my heart for you,
Like the blood of life coursing through my veins.
My friend, while you live, have you ever seen a killed lover,
Weeping for the love that has defeated him?
If my heart were with me, I would choose no one but you,
And I would settle for no other in love.
Oh, how I wish that this love would burn just once,
So it could know the anguish that lovers encounter in absence.
Your eyes conquer hearts so all are either wounded or slain.
And I, I love to sleep when it is not my time,
Hoping for a meeting in the dreamscape.
Were it not for love, no lover would be humiliated on earth,
But the lover’s pride is a precious burden.
Move your heart where you will in love,
For love remains only for the first beloved.
If you wish to encounter all the beauties,
Look in the face of the one you desire; all virtues reside there.
Do not wage war with your eyes upon my heart,
For two weaklings can overpower a strong one.
When my eyes beheld your beauty approaching,
I swear, my soul intoxicated without drink.
Tears inscribed on my cheek a pledge of love,
The yearning dictates what is written.
I love you with two loves: love of passion,
And love because you are deserving of it.
I saw a full moon walking on earth,
And I have never seen a moon on earth walk before.
They said separation is tomorrow without doubt;
I told them, my soul will perish before tomorrow’s parting.
Pause and let us part before the impending separation.
I love until the soil beneath me becomes a part of me,
I embraced you until I said, my fire has died.
But my flames did not extinguish; they grew brighter.
I would exit this world with your love,
Dwelling fiercely within my soul without anyone knowing.
My spirit follows desire through its paths until it flows
Love running as the spirit within the body.
I love you with a love that, were it to spill upon creation,
All of creation would perish from the intensity of that love.
So I say, as fate ordained, love chose you for its victim.
She asked: which of them? They are many.
You advance, and in your hands is my heart,
Return my heart, and wherever you wish to go, proceed.
I have a heart that, if the agony extends,
Longs dearly for a reunion with the one who torments it.
No one suffers like humanity suffers from love’s ailment,
And nothing is broken like flesh or bones.
She sheltered me, and strangely the sun,
Shadows me in the midst of the sun.
I left you until they said that I do not know love,
And visited you until they claimed that I have no patience.
She said you’ve lost your mind over your beloved. I said to her,
Love is greater than what the insane encounter.
Even if poison is mixed with your saliva,
And I drank a sip of it, it would pierce through my being.
I said, my witnesses in your love are plenty,
And my heart professes them, my tears flowing abundantly.
I wished to gaze upon him, although he was oblivious,
To steal from him an eye that is unaware,
The moon glides like a twin,
And sometimes it rises for him, then disappears.
If fate dictated, it might be unfair to me,
But that injustice is sweeter than justice.
You possess my heart while I am in it,
How did you embrace that which embraces you?
Tell your beloved ones how I live in their absence,
While I am just a traveler, and my heart remains fixed.
Torment me by everything but disdain,
For I have tasted no pain like that of rejection.
You led my heart in your love,
And my heart has succumbed to you, without rebellion.
I submitted to you in love after my pride,
And every lover of their beloved is submissive.
I have known fire, gentled by its guidance,
And with the fire of your cheeks, every heart wanders.
Torment me as you wish, my heart, torment me,
For the suffering of love is my ultimate desire.
Part of me has perished from the flames of absence,
While another has drowned under rivers of tears.
The rose killed itself out of jealousy of you,
And shed its blood on your cheeks.
Getting used to your absence is difficult,
And adjusting to your presence is even harder.
It has seeped into the pores of my skin like a drop of dew,
You have a covenant with me, even if I forget, in the depths of my heart.