You know that feeling when everything between the two of you is just clicking? So did Anne Bradstreet, one of the early colonial settlers in Massachusetts. The passion of her love poem to her husband is not something we usually associate with the Puritans, but it still resonates today.

If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me, ye women, if you can.

I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,

Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

When you're married, love can feel pretty different from how it did when you were dating or engaged. Especially once you have kids, am I right? That breathless excitement might not be there, but it's been replaced by something deeper and truer. Maya Angelou's "Touched by an Angel" gets at that (sans any reference to the '90s TV show).

We are weaned from our timidity

In the flush of love's light

we dare be brave

And suddenly we see

that love costs all we are

and will ever be.

Yet it is only love

which sets us free.

For something understated but sexy, try Ella Wheeler Wilcox's "I Love You." Wilcox started publishing her poetry in the 1880s and her work became very popular, according to the Poetry Foundation. It's not hard to see why:

So kiss me sweet with your warm wet mouth,

Still fragrant with ruby wine,

And say with a fervor born of the South

That your body and soul are mine.

Clasp me close in your warm young arms,

While the pale stars shine above,

And we’ll live our whole young lives away

In the joys of a living love.

With its rhythmic pacing and sweet sentiments, there are good reasons that E.E. Cummings's "[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]" has become a classic. It's simple enough that it makes sense the first time you read it, but you'll also see new things if you reread it a few times. While it may have been avant-garde in the mid-twentieth century, according to the Poetry Foundation, today, its unusual spacing and lack of capitalization make it look almost like a text message.

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life

which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Leo Marks' “The Life That I Have” is a beautiful, simple poem that captures the permanence of love by using repetition: "Is yours and yours and yours." But there's a poignant story behind the poem, which Marks wrote in 1943 while working as a code breaker for Winston Churchill's Special Operations Executive, according to Huffpost. Marks' girlfriend had just died in a plane crash, and the poem was his way of “transmitt[ing] a message to her which I’d failed to deliver when I’d had the chance.”

Marks then went on to give the poem to Violette Szabo, an agent with the French resistance, to use as her personal cipher for encoding secret messages. Szabo was later compromised, and eventually tortured and killed by the Nazis — a story depicted in a 1958 film called Carve Her Name With Pride.

The life that I have

Is all that I have

And the life that I have 


Is yours

The love that I have 


Of the life that I have 


Is yours and yours and yours.

For a lot of people, the idea of love poetry immediately conjures up Shakesepeare's sonnets. But John Donne, one of the Bard's contemporaries, was also a prolific writer of love poems. In "The Good-Morrow," Donne describes a mature love that is content in itself, with the two partners making their "one little room an everywhere:"

And now good-morrow to our waking souls,

Which watch not one another out of fear;

For love all love of other sights controls,

And makes one little room an everywhere.

Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone;

Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown;

Let us possess one world; each hath one, and is one.

Even if you thought you hated love poems, it turns out there's a love poem especially for you. "Another Valentine," a short poem written by Wendy Cope for The Daily Telegraph, starts out by expressing weariness for "yet another" Valentine's Day. But by the end, the speaker has started to think it through and gotten into the spirit of the holiday:

Today we are obliged to be romantic

And think of yet another valentine.

We know the rules and we are both pedantic:

Today’s the day we have to be romantic.

Our love is old and sure, not new and frantic.

You know I’m yours and I know you are mine.

And saying that has made me feel romantic,

My dearest love, my darling valentine.

This poem is also subtly sexy. “Close as two papers in a book that read each other in the dark?” Mmhmm. Bishop’s poem is easy to follow and quite intimate in its portrayal of two lovers. Plus, being compared to a book is always romantic, in my opinion.

Elizabeth Bishop is considered one of the most distinguished American poets in the 20th century, and she was a Pulitzer Prize Winner, the Poet Laureate for the United States from 1949 through 1950, and a National Book Award Winner for poetry in 1970.

Close close all night

the lovers keep.

They turn together

in their sleep,

Close as two papers

in a book

that read each other

in the dark.

Each knows all

the other knows,

learnt by heart

from head to toes.

Sir Philip Sidney was born in the 1500s and was a prominent figure in the Elizabethan age as a poet, scholar, courtier, and soldier. He did not allow his writings to be published during his lifetime, according to poets.org, but thankfully this little gem is still available for all to enjoy, including your husband, who I’m sure will love that you have his heart and he has yours. This short and sweet poem would be perfect in a handmade Valentine, or even written inside of a card.

My true-love hath my heart and I have his,

By just exchange one for the other given;

I hold his dear and mine he cannot miss;

There never was a better bargain driven.

My true-love hath my heart and I have his,

His heart in me keeps him and me in one;

My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides;

He loves my heart for once it was his own,

I cherish his because in me it bides.

My true-love hath my heart and I have his

This poem by Elizabeth Browning is probably one of the most popular — or at the very least, the most quoted — love poems ever. Especially the first line, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” You can’t go wrong with a true classic, and a beautiful one at that.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

For those of us who said “I love you” first, or even not, Rossetti’s poem shows how it doesn’t matter over time and that love between two people can grow and evolve. It's the perfect way to describe just how beautiful it is when two loves become one larger love.

I loved you first: but afterwards your love

Outsoaring mine, sang such a loftier song

As drowned the friendly cooings of my dove.

Which owes the other most? my love was long,

And yours one moment seemed to wax more strong;

I loved and guessed at you, you construed me

And loved me for what might or might not be –

Nay, weights and measures do us both a wrong.

For verily love knows not ‘mine’ or ‘thine;’

With separate ‘I’ and ‘thou’ free love has done,

For one is both and both are one in love:

Rich love knows nought of ‘thine that is not mine;’

Both have the strength and both the length thereof,

Both of us, of the love which makes us one.

If you wish you could just find the words to express the gratitude, love, and appreciation for your husband, this poem definitely finds them for you, and it’s even aptly named.

Just wish I could find the words

That would make the meaning clear

About why I just love you so

And why I want you here

Why I need you here with me

So I can shower you with love

Why it is so clear to see

You are an angel from above

An angel sent from heavens high

To bring the lord’s own prayer

That you and I on blue skies fly

Share a love that is true and rare

A love that is so truly pure

That it completely fills my heart

A love that will forever endure

And that we shall never part

A love that will last you see

Until the end of time

A love which joins us – you and me

And forever will our hearts entwine.

This poem by Nayyirah Waheed perfectly depicts how it feels when you’re still super attracted to someone even after being together a long time. The electric chemistry is still there, even just by a mere touch of the arm.

chemistry

is

you

touching my arm

and

it

setting fire to my mind.

— flood

This sweet straightforward poem really exemplifies how much this woman appreciates her soon-to-be husband, but I think that it also would be perfect for a couple who’s already married — especially if you have children together. The balancing out, and keeping her going when the days are long — definitely true love right there.

You gave me light

On my darkest of days.

You showed me love In so many ways.

There's no way at all

I could have what I do

If I hadn't realized

That it's always been you.

Thank you for

The life that we live.

Thank you for

Everything that you give.

Your time, your money,

Your undying loyalty;

I have to tell you,

You're not getting rid of me!

You balance me out.

You keep me stable.

Without you,

I wouldn't be able

To keep myself going

When the day seems too long.

It just happens to be you

Who helps me stay strong.

As long as you love me,

I promise I'll stay.

I'll love you forever... Happy Valentine's Day!

I love the wordplay of this poem, and I bet your husband will, too. It’s sweet, simple, and playful, and the perfect poem to put in your Valentine’s Day card for your husband this year.

Every tone of life

Makes a note for you.

Every word of life

Makes a phrase for you.

Every sweet word of life

Makes a love quote for you.

My love, try to hear it,

How much I love you.

Every smile of my life

Makes a sweet laughter for you.

Every scene of my life

Makes a beautiful picture for you.

Every step of my life

Paves an adventurous way for you.

My love, try to know it,

How much I love you.

My love, try to believe it,

How much I love you.