Famous Heart Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Heart poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous heart poems. These examples illustrate what a famous heart poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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Happy the heart of him who has passed unknown,

by Omar Khayyam
Happy the heart of him who has passed unknown,
who has not been clothed in a robe of ceremony, nor in
luxurious garments, nor in stuffs of great price, who,
like the simourg, is lifted into the skies to the place of
his delight as the owl sits among the ruins of this world.
314...Read more of this...

At this moment, when my heart is not yet deprived of

by Omar Khayyam
At this moment, when my heart is not yet deprived of
life, it seems to me that there are few problems that I
have not solved. However, when I call intelligence to
my aid, when I examine myself with care, I perceive
that my existence has slipped away and that I have still
defined nothing....Read more of this...

Sonnet 25 - A heavy heart Beloved have I borne

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
 A heavy heart, Beloved, have I borne
From year to year until I saw thy face,
And sorrow after sorrow took the place
Of all those natural joys as lightly worn
As the stringed pearls, each lifted in its turn
By a beating heart at dance-time. Hopes apace
Were changed to long despairs, till God's own grace
Could scarcely lift above the world forlorn
My heavy heart....Read more of this...

A poor -- torn heart -- a tattered heart

by Emily Dickinson
 A poor -- torn heart -- a tattered heart --
That sat it down to rest --
Nor noticed that the Ebbing Day
Flowed silver to the West --
Nor noticed Night did soft descend --
Nor Constellation burn --
Intent upon the vision
Of latitudes unknown.

The angels -- happening that way
This dusty heart espied --
Tenderly took it up from toil
And carried it to God --
There...Read more of this...

The Popular Heart is a Cannon first --

by Emily Dickinson
 The Popular Heart is a Cannon first --
Subsequent a Drum --
Bells for an Auxiliary
And an Afterward of Rum --

Not a Tomorrow to know its name
Nor a Past to stare --
Ditches for Realms and a Trip to Jail
For a Souvenir --...Read more of this...

O heart! act as if all the good things of this world

by Omar Khayyam
O heart! act as if all the good things of this world
belonged to you; imagine that this house is provided
with everything, that it is richly furnished, and live joyously
in this domain of disorder. Realize that thou restest
here for two or three days, and that thereafter thou
shalt rise and go away....Read more of this...

My Heart and I

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
 I.

ENOUGH ! we're tired, my heart and I.
We sit beside the headstone thus,
And wish that name were carved for us.
The moss reprints more tenderly
The hard types of the mason's knife,
As heaven's sweet life renews earth's life
With which we're tired, my heart and I.

II.
You see we're tired, my heart and I.
We dealt with books, we trusted men,
And in our own...Read more of this...

Heart O The North

by Robert William Service
 And when I come to the dim trail-end,
 I who have been Life's rover,
This is all I would ask, my friend,
 Over and over and over:

A little space on a stony hill
 With never another near me,
Sky o' the North that's vast and still,
 With a single star to cheer me;

Star that gleams on a moss-grey stone
 Graven by...Read more of this...

Each heart that God illumines with the light of

by Omar Khayyam
Each heart that God illumines with the light of
love, as it frequents the mosque or synagogue, inscribes
its name upon the book of love, and is set free from
fear of Hell while it awaits the joys of Paradise.
294...Read more of this...

My heart is weary of hypocrisy,

by Omar Khayyam
My heart is weary of hypocrisy,
Cupbearer, bring some wine, I beg of thee!
This hooded cowl and prayer-mat pawn for wine,
Then will I boast me in security....Read more of this...

Flame-Heart

by Claude McKay
 So much have I forgotten in ten years,
So much in ten brief years! I have forgot
What time the purple apples come to juice,
And what month brings the shy forget-me-not.
I have forgot the special, startling season
Of the pimento's flowering and fruiting;
What time of year the ground doves brown the fields
And fill the noonday with their curious fluting.
I have forgotten much,...Read more of this...

My Heart When First The Black-Bird Sings

by Robert Louis Stevenson
 MY heart, when first the blackbird sings,
My heart drinks in the song:
Cool pleasure fills my bosom through
And spreads each nerve along.

My bosom eddies quietly,
My heart is stirred and cool
As when a wind-moved briar sweeps
A stone into a pool

But unto thee, when thee I meet,
My pulses thicken fast,
As when the maddened lake grows black
And ruffles in the blast....Read more of this...

The Broken Heart

by John Donne
 He is stark mad, who ever says,
That he hath been in love an hour,
Yet not that love so soon decays,
But that it can ten in less space devour;
Who will believe me, if I swear
That I have had the plague a year?
Who would not laugh at me, if I should say,
I saw a flask of powder burn a day?

Ah, what...Read more of this...

My heart the chamber of His musing is

by Hafez
My heart the chamber of His musing is,
Mine eye the mirror of His beauty’s face,
My hand the servant of His purposes.

I, who to neither wealth nor worldly place
Incline, nor to religion’s promised ease,
Bend low beneath the burden of His grace.

Since all I have is of His bounty given,
So is my poor pride but in His proud name,
His humble service is...Read more of this...

Upon earth, no one presses to his heart a charmer with

by Omar Khayyam
Upon earth, no one presses to his heart a charmer with
cheeks of the tints of a rose without the time comes
that he feels the sting of the thorn. See the comb: before
it could caress the perfumed hair of the beauty, it
had to be cut into many teeth....Read more of this...

The mob within the heart

by Emily Dickinson
 The mob within the heart
Police cannot suppress
The riot given at the first
Is authorized as peace

Uncertified of scene
Or signified of sound
But growing like a hurricane
In a congenial ground....Read more of this...

Sonnet II: My Heart Was Slain

by Michael Drayton
 My heart was slain, and none but you and I; 
Who should I think the murther should commit, 
Since but yourself there was no creature by, 
But only I, guiltless of murth'ring it? 
It slew itself; the verdict on the view 
Doth quit the dead, and me not accessary. 
Well, well, I fear it will be prov'd by you,...Read more of this...

His Heart was darker than the starless night

by Emily Dickinson
 His Heart was darker than the starless night
For that there is a morn
But in this black Receptacle
Can be no Bode of Dawn...Read more of this...

Her sweet Weight on my Heart a Night

by Emily Dickinson
 Her sweet Weight on my Heart a Night
Had scarcely deigned to lie --
When, stirring, for Belief's delight,
My Bride had slipped away --

If 'twas a Dream -- made solid -- just
The Heaven to confirm --
Or if Myself were dreamed of Her --
The power to presume --

With Him remain -- who unto Me --
Gave -- even as to All --
A Fiction...Read more of this...

Arrows enamored of his Heart --

by Emily Dickinson
 Arrows enamored of his Heart --
Forgot to rankle there
And Venoms he mistook for Balms
disdained to rankle there --...Read more of this...

To A Golden Heart That He Wore Round His Neck

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 [Addressed, during the Swiss tour already mentioned, 
to a present Lily had given him, during the time of their happy 
connection, which was then about to be terminated for ever.]

OH thou token loved of joys now perish'd

That I still wear from my neck suspended,
Art thou stronger than our spirit-bond so cherish'd?

Or canst thou prolong love's days untimely ended?

Lily, I...Read more of this...

The Debate Between Villon And His Heart

by Francois Villon
 Who's that I hear?—It's me—Who?—Your heart
Hanging on by the thinnest thread
I lose all my strength, substance, and fluid
When I see you withdrawn this way all alone
Like a whipped cur sulking in the corner
Is it due to your mad hedonism?—
What's it to you?—I have to suffer for it—
Leave me alone—Why?—I'll think about it—
When will you do that?—When I've grown up—
I've...Read more of this...

To prayer and fasting when my heart inclined,

by Omar Khayyam
To prayer and fasting when my heart inclined,
All my desire I surely hoped to find;
Alas! my purity is stained with wine,
My prayers are wasted like a breath of wind....Read more of this...

The Broken Heart

by William Barnes
 News o' grief had overteaken
Dark-eyed Fanny, now vorseaken;
There she zot, wi' breast a-heaven,
While vrom zide to zide, wi' grieven,
Vell her head, wi' tears a-creepen
Down her cheaks, in bitter weepen.
There wer still the ribbon-bow
She tied avore her hour ov woe,
An' there wer still the hans that tied it
Hangen white,
Or wringen tight,
In ceare that drowned all ceare bezide it.

When a man,...Read more of this...

The Heart is the Capital of the Mind --

by Emily Dickinson
 The Heart is the Capital of the Mind --
The Mind is a single State --
The Heart and the Mind together make
A single Continent --

One -- is the Population --
Numerous enough --
This ecstatic Nation
Seek -- it is Yourself....Read more of this...

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