Broken Heart Poems

Broken heart poems capture the essence of painful moments of love.

Below are five, really effective poems all about heartbreak…

Mirage – Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

The hope I dreamed of was a dream,
Was but a dream; and now I wake,
Exceeding comfortless, and worn, and old,
For a dream’s sake.

I hang my harp upon a tree,
A weeping willow in a lake;
I hang my silenced harp there, wrung and snapt
For a dream’s sake.

Lie still, lie still, my breaking heart;
My silent heart, lie still and break:
Life, and the world, and mine own self, are changed
For a dream’s sake.

Aubade - Anon (16th century)

Stay, O sweet, and not rise,
The light that shines comes from thine eyes;
The day breaks not, it is my heart,
Because that you and I must part.
Stay, or else my joys will die,
And perish in their infancy.

Poem by A.E. Housman (1859-1936)

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say
‘Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free.’
But I was one and twenty,
No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
‘The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
‘Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.’
And I am two-and –twenty,
And oh, ‘tis true, ‘tis true.

My True Love Hath my Heart and I Have His - Mary Coleridge (1861-1907)

None ever was in love with me but grief.
She wooed me from the day that I was born;
She stole my playthings first, the jealous thief,
And left me there forlorn.

The birds that in my garden would have sung,
She scared away with her unending moan;
She slew my lovers too when I was young
And left me there alone.

Grief, I have cursed thee often – now at last
To hate thy name I am no longer free;
Caught in thy bony arms and prisoned fast,
I love no love but thee.

The Sick Rose (1757-1827)

O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

These broken heart poems give you a taste of the unhappy side of love. If you want to read more about how sad love can be sometimes, take a look at our articles on sad love poems and broken heart quotes.

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