It is often the things that matter to us the most which make us grapple for words. And love — that delicate, overpowering, and wildly inexplicable emotion — complements everything we hold dear.
In moments of loss, grief, or hope, where mere utterances don’t quite approximate how I truly feel, I often turn to poetry to find inspiration. There is always that one poem or verse that will make it all make sense. When I need to give voice to the things that I would otherwise not say out loud, I turn to poetry for expression.
Love + Poetry: A Timeless Expression
There is a reason that the first poem ever written is about love. The Love Song of Shu-Shin, which dates back to ancient Mesopotamia in c.2000 BCE, is a love poem as much as a sacred ritual.
Throughout the centuries, poems about love thrived — they became artistic manifestations of the evolution of the concept of love through different periods and cultures.
We owe it to the poets that came before us. Their works allowed us to experience love in its different forms and intentions. We came to appreciate how love is unceasing in its beauty and depth but also ever-changing in how it is expressed through poetry.
And we can all agree here — in the age of the internet and social media, coming up with the right words to propose to a loved one or crafting that perfect Instagram caption to celebrate a relationship milestone has become an art form in itself. When words escape us, we turn to poems old or new. We can take inspiration from William Shakespeare’s and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s love sonnets, W.B. Yeats’ romantic poems, Pablo Neruda’s sensual and passionate verses, Lang Leav’s confessional prose poetry, or the works of countless other poets, to put into words the depths of our feelings.
Love is a complex emotion, and poetry can create compelling imagery to untangle the inexpressible.
Love is poetry. Poetry is love.
