Melancholic Poems | Examples

List of Member Poems

The Atlantic in your eyes


If you love me, tell me now.
Actions speak louder than words,
Especially when I wear my heart like a crown.
You’re my choice of drug—
Addictive.
Mentally, physically, and emotionally.

You’re the queen of my heart,
No crown needed.
Till death do us part,
But death will be beneath us.
Nothing will ever come between us.

Eyes blue like the Atlantic,
So deep I get lost in them.
My lips on your skin—
What a heavenly taste.
You’re all I desire;
You can call it a sin.

You’re mine, forever and always.
Pull me closer.
I’m in your arms, my love.
All my worries fade away,
Like a cloud on a sunny day.
You’re perfection.
You’re my peace in every storm.

Even on the darkest days,
Your smile still shines through.
Just me and you.

Kill Me Under The Stars

If you have to ruin me,
don't do it under kitchen lights
or in parked cars
or over phone calls filled with silence.

Take me somewhere the sky is endless.

Somewhere the stars
have been dying for years
without anyone noticing.

Let me look up at something ancient,
something that understands
how beautiful things can disappear.

And if this is the ending,

if I have to lose whatever version 
of me still believes in forever,
then let it happen there.

Because I think

I'd rather break apart
Beneath constellations
Than inside another room that forgets

Genie in a bottle

Genie, old genie, grant me a wish.
I wish life would get better than this.
For a fortune in happiness,
A lifetime of bliss.
Any life would be better than this.

Dust collecting on the bottle,
My wish so simple, so pure.
Surely it wouldn’t leave me craving more.

Shackles of life,
Ruins in shambles.
You and I are the same—
I, the bottle.
You, the dust.

Trapped.
The feeling of hopelessness and despair,
Trapped by memories
I can no longer outrun.

The loneliness settled like dust,
Covering the dream that once was.
Please grant my wish,
For it is not a long list.

I waited for magic,
I waited for change.
But the dust kept falling,
And the bottle stayed the same.


Premium Member Broken Promises

Broken promises, broken heart,
Deep within sears the pain,
I trusted your truth from the start,
Instead you tied me to the train.

Drowned in the waves of feelings chained,
Like falling leaves, I am tossed,
Washed upon the shore, colourless and drained,
Unable to reclaim myself, my freedom lost.

Now every memory feels unstable,
I played by your rules, never fair or just,
Your words now just a bitter fable,
Now my life lies in the dust.

Smile and pretend everything is normal,
Laugh so the tears are disguised,
Withdraw deep within the abnormal,
All my dreams are denied.

How do I rebuild for a future?
How can something broken remain?
Can it be healed with a suture,
Or are feelings hardened by pain?

My life is stripped of all meaning,
Each thought pulls me further away,
No comfort is found in dreaming,
As I disappear a little more every day.

Premium Member DUST OF OLD PHOTOGRAPHS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I found us in a shoebox,  
tucked between receipts and time~  
your laugh pressed flat like August wheat,  
your eyes still wet with sun.  

The edges curl like fingers  
reaching for what’s slipped away:  
a carnival of fireflies,  
the porch swing’s lazy groan,  
the way the light would hesitate  
before it left the room.  

Now the colors bleed a little~  
your shirt a faded blue,  
the sky behind us thinning  
to something less than true.  

But here, in this dim silence,  
I hold the ghost of sound:  
the shutter’s click, your whispered stay,  
before the world moved on.

Burdened by a Boulder

Burdened by a boulder,
That once was a star,
Dragged by the colder
End of a scar,
To feel a wish 
Bleed from a stab,
To die among fish,
To be pinched by a crab,
Alone in the sea,
Envying the summit, 
What I was shaped to be, 
I cannot over come it.

Gental despair, 
A coffin from sorrow,
A storm in the air,
Killing tomorrow,
Tangled knots,
Numbed by a blade, 
A line of dots, 
The heartbeat fades. 

What is mine, 
A thief takes back, 
A paralyzed spine, 
Wine in a rack, 
Locked by a knife, 
Yet stabbed at the heart, 
Miserable short life,
The sadness of art.


Premium Member i've been told i'm too melancholic and serious to direct a comic opera

what's wrong with people?

it happened on a friday afternoon,
when i crashed through the gates of our compound
and saw my wife and son walking along the pathway

and i turned the corner 
and hurdled over the speedbumps
to beat them to the front door

i reversed into the driveway
as they appeared from around the bend
walking with pace towards our house

i parked and proceeded to slowly
open the driver-side window
as they stood on the steps before the door

and at full volume came Largo al factotum
Figaro here, Figaro there,
Figaro up, Figaro down.

i looked at my wife expressionless. 
my wife looked at me, 
and proceeded to lead our son inside.

Premium Member Long Shadows



My memories haunt the wind, my blessings blowing
From the still silence to the gentlest sigh,
Beautiful as the music who restores my soul, glowing
Softly against the night, a friend and why? Oh, why?

Moments turn to years in the blink of an eye
And I still feel the silent wind, reminding my soul
Wherever I go, wherever I’ve been, I look to the sky
And see the beauty of His grace – He’s making me whole

My life is passing by, so quickly, like a star’s quiet twinkle
And I let it all pass by, so deep into the music, the pulse
Slowly I turn to the right, then around to see the wrinkle
Time has left me in the past, while on a gentle nudge, an impulse…

Reveals the music of God’s truth, His breath a quiet hope
Pouring through me in rhythms of light, softly playing
It is His love that tells me I have all I need, I can cope
Because He is – the light, the life, the Maker – all I’m saying

Is life is as it should be, I was once a child and now I see
From my youth He was with me, all the strength I’d ever need
Reassuring me that, with Him, I will always be free
And I believe, He is the way and I’ll go wherever He might lead

No Ships Tonight

The lighthouse hums beneath a ghostly sky,
fog bruises the restless sea's breath,
no ships will come tonight.

When Midnight Weeps

The alley shivers under broken light,
puddles cradle forgotten stars,
midnight forgets to weep.

Devotion in doubt

Is my sorrow real?
Were we doomed…

I’ll be damned
if the questioning is my devotion.

Though I never deviated,
love only takes one of us.

Love or lust…
laughter, lies we shared

Was I wrong?

Premium Member Nostalgic Melancholic

Through all the years of these elemental seasons changing,
I've thought about all of the reasons why life can be depressing,
As well as why all these memories trespass my every feeling.

'The Melancholic Muse'

Deep inside a wounded soul
Lies the nostalgic and weird hall
Some thoughts run wild
Ghosts of memories never died.

I'm so tired and weak
One moment- trails are waiting for me 
One moment- free from every pain
O mother! Buy me candies again
I want to go back to my happy days
Where I could laugh and play.

Today, I'm standing at the shore 
And the waves makes it loud
Every damn step feels like a struggle
Everyday seems like a jigsaw puzzle.

A new chapter can still form
apart from the haunted road.

Premium Member Beneath the canvas of the sky unraveling into melancholic twilight

Beneath the canvas of the sky unraveling into melancholic twilight,
There stretches a silent expanse that separates us,
It swells with each orphaned beat of time,
Filling with quicksilver, with murmurs of suspicion under a pallid moon.
Through unseen veils, I feel the coolness of the evening - a caress gone astray;
Yet, your face, once reflected in the depths of iris,
Now gazes towards other crossroads, sinking into mystery;
Searching across boundaries, in altars unsuspected by the evening star.
Words try their flight across the elongated abyss,
Starting as nocturnal birds, vanishing into the silent vast.
We wander like phantoms over this land forgotten by time,
You – anchored in the chill of a regret that never ends.
Thus, we drag our shadows through the waves of darkened hours;
Love rends, and remonstration gathers ink in the dark waters.
There is a rippled space between us,
Growing, widening, ever since you left the story.

Premium Member Melancholic

I'm sunbird of the sketched skyline, 
Soaring across soft sheaths 
Of ebony moonflowers, 
Inhaling gossamer death, tonight.

Sub Categories

Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace