Love Poems

Love is one of the most common themes in the history of poetry (and mankind), and for good reason: it is one of the greatest and most basic human conditions. Just about everyone has been loved, loved someone, and has been in love. Naturally, poets have written a great deal on the subject.

If you’re feeling down-and-out about love, we’ve got you covered with a selection of poems about heartbreak, heart ache, and general misery due to love.

So whether you’re looking for a poem with which to woo someone, need a poem to send to your valentine, or are feeling blue and need some cheer (misery loves company, after all), then dive in with these suggested love poems.

LOVE PURPOSE

1. CONDITIONAL LOVE

Conditional love is like a kind of bargain with the Universe to give you self-love if you "take care of" people. Tends to make others responsible for your needs and happiness. Includes the "Care-taker ", "Good Prostitute", "Reluctant Martyr", "Rescuer ", stances in life. Wants, and to a degree does get, rewards and approval from others. There are secondary gains in this position, though the price paid is being less than one's True Self.

Possessive, holds on when the other grows or heals...and then needs another needy partner. Expectations++. "I will love you (=take care of you) if you are good, clever, white, black, richer, poorer, sicker or more well than me, male, female...etc..." "I love you and if you love me you must promise me...." etc. Can easily feel victimized/angry again when the conditions are not met. Can make the one loved in this way feel very resentful ("hostile dependency"). Dependent on the approval of others.

"Social Activist Level I" ..."Crusader" ("I will fight for peace, - even if I have to kill or assassinate to get it"). Still angry with personalities and more focused on those than upon issues, therefore oversimplifies. "I will love you if you adopt my point of view, the "right" political persuasion....or do what my parents did - or did not do" Easily falls prey to anger or fear, or feels victimized if frustrated. Can explode with frustration and become "Perpetrator" or "Terrorist"; or feel powerless - "Doormat" or "Victim".

This level corresponds in psychosynthesis to the level of the subpersonalities. There is a tendency to "love" only the perceived "victim" in any situation, to identify with the victim, and to hate the perceived "oppressor". Unable to see that the oppressor is also suffering, but in a different way and expressing their suffering differently. Both the victim and the oppressor are giving out a cry for love and for their unmet needs to be met. There is a tendency for one operating at this level to hold others responsible for their happiness (and therefore unhappiness!), and at the same time push love or help away when it has been offered. This often leads to burn-out, or a win-lose situation, in which all are losers. I call this the Bermuda Triangle (see diagram).

2. TOUGH LOVE

Tough Love is less dependent upon others for a sense of self-worth and self-esteem. A more skilled Care-giver. Self-love and self-esteem is enough to take more positive action. Recognizes own needs and is willing to take responsibility for getting them met. Can confront caringly. "I love myself enough to love you and tell you the truth"... "I can serve you without manipulations".

Can also receive love with openness, does not push it away when it is offered.

"Social Activist Level II", Can separate people from their actions, more focused on issues than on personalities. "We are separate but equal" "I give you responsibility for your actions, the way you lead your life, and I take full responsibility for mine". Can negotiate assertively - i.e. firmly, but without putting the other party down .

This level corresponds more to the level of the psyche called in psychosynthesis, the personal self. There is more discrimination, will, love and energy.

3. UNCONDITIONAL LOVE:-

It is the exploration of what this might be that we do from now on in this seminar - and in life after the seminar! Its mystery and depth cannot be explained. Yet we all recognize its presence and its magic. It reveals itself through joy, which can even increase in adversity. We can learn to see ourselves as moving towards becoming able to express it ever more fully. We can learn the steps in developing this quality, which is still in the process of evolving or revealing itself.

Unconditional love is enlarging the self, and an act of will. It is not a feeling or an emotional reaction. Think of the difference between falling in love, and growing in love through all difficulties and conflicts. Unconditional love is an act of mental and spiritual will, it cannot and does not take place upon the emotional level, which is where the problems first register. Unconditional love is extending oneself in the service of the spiritual growth of oneself and/or another, independently of reward or the behavior of others.

Makeover Madness Happy In Your Own Skin

Makeover madness, plastic surgery, and being happy with who you are.

I just saw something really sad.

I was flipping through channels, trying to see if there was anything on, and I landed on what I found out was MTV. The show was "I Want to Look Like Someone Famous", or something like that.

I've noticed that there has been an onslaught of such shows.

Everyday people going under the knife to look like someone else. Not subtle little changes like hair coloring or whitening their smile, but drastic makeover changes like chin implants, nose jobs and complete body changes all in the course of a few weeks to look like someone else.

These are perfectly acceptable looking people wanting to look like someone famous.

They are so uncomfortable with who they are, with being in their own skin, that they are willing to put their lives and faces in danger for a makeover to "become" someone else.

I look at the stretch marks forming across my nine-month expectant-mother frame and think how with just a flick of a laser they could be gone.

I look at the wrinkles forming around my eyes and mouth and think how just a few injections of Botox could rid me of those nuisances.

But I realize what those marks are. Reminders of my life experiences!

I can point to which stretch marks are from Zach and which ones are from Selah, due to the different ways I've carried each. The wrinkles around my eyes and mouth are reminders of all the laughs and giggles I've had in my life.

I wouldn't change a one.

Look at your imperfections for what they are, YOURS. You are you, individual and beautiful.

I don't want to look like someone who is famous this year for their 15 minutes. Ten years from now, no one will know who they are, much less who you look like.

I don't want my children to think that their value is found in someone else's fame. They are loved for who they are. They are special for who they are. A makeover will not make them more special.

I heard it best put by the man himself, Fred Rogers. People are like fish. Everyone is fancy in their own way; some on the inside and some on the outside. You just need to figure out how you're fancy and know that no one can take that away from you, unless you let them.

With words of wisdom like that, perhaps in this makeover crazed world we would all do well to spend a little time in "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood".

God! What do I do now?

I want back, those good old days
When I was happy in my own ways

And now when it all 'really' mattered
I can’t see my dreams being shattered
I try damn hard, but cannot be brave
Feel like a loser, dug my own grave

Curse my fate I just woke up now
Got to pull myself up now somehow
I realise the many mistakes that I made
For those were the ones, for which I paid

I’ve all through lived in my little dreams
To think beyond it now, wiser it seems
I can’t just brush away all my pains
It still hurts, cos the memory remains

Fate’s playing his old cruel joke
I can’t laugh, I’m already broke
It is not easy to bring myself to blame
But I’m being consumed by this flame

Father Time give me another chance
I ‘ll give the past one more glance
I long to make changes to my past
I want happiness that can forever last

It all happened fast, I don’t know how
I’m despairing, god what do I do now?

An Invitation to a Birthday Party

My daughter's twelfth-birthday party was a nightmare, a social train wreck. It was, of course, a sleepover. I still have the photos of the group at breakfast, seated around the dining room table: sluggish, cranky, ready to go home. And I was ready for them to go. There had been moments during the party the night before when I wanted to send them all packing instantly. "Get out," I wanted to shout. "You're all mean! You're all horrible."

My daughter, Joanna, now sixteen, has long since forgotten that party. It's ancient history to her; she has moved on with her life. When I reminded her recently of the events of that night, she gave a shrug of acknowledgment and went back to what she was doing. I can't forget it that easily.

Let me set the scene-time, place, and characters-for the drama. Joanna's birthday is in late June. That's a good month for birthdays, close enough to the end of the school year so that most of the kids you might want to invite are still around town. At the same time, late-June birthdays don't conflict with the inevitable round of end-of-school events. Best of all, the weather is usually good, which means we can hold a swimming party in our backyard, which borders a lake. When Joanna was nine or ten years old all we needed to throw a successful birthday party were some water balloons, a dock for kids to jump off, and of course cake and ice cream. But parties for twelve-year-olds are a lot more complicated than swimming and cake.

My wife, Theresa, and I had a sense of foreboding about the party when we saw Joanna's guest list. That year our daughter was leaving her public school to go to a private school that offered extensive support for her reading difficulties. Her departure made it inevitable that she was going to lose some friends. Her final social gesture as she left her public school was to invite the entire cool group from her class to her birthday party.

One girl who came to the party was Maria. Maria, like Joanna, was a little different from the mainstream of the class. Her mother was Irish Catholic, her father Korean. They represented an unusual diversity in the town. Maria wasn't absolutely at the center of the cool group either, but she was eager to be, and we had sensed in the past that Maria felt competitive with Joanna. Therein lies the tale of the birthday party.

If you are spending time looking for ways in which you can improve your relationship, you obviously love and care for your partner and what you want to have together.

Start your changes by celebrating your relationship. Celebrate the joy of having met that one very special person, find joy in the wonderful things that 'click' about you and your spouse and celebrate what you are committed to building together. You can celebrate any day at any time and you can also celebrate by surprising your spouse.

On your next birthday, celebrate your spouse and how he or she makes your existence better by presenting him or her with a gift. He or she will be so surprised that you might see a tear or two of joy fall.

Start paying attention to what he or she likes. Really listen to what your spouse says, pay attention to the items he or she says he would like to try someday and get it for them. Don't give it to your spouse immediately and put the item away for a period of time. The period of time is up to you- it could be a week or it could be a month. When you think that he or she will no longer remember discussing the item with you, present it to them as a gift.

Take over a chore or daily task for your spouse without letting them know about your intentions. Mow the lawn, washing the car, cook and clean up from meals or clean the house- do something substantial for him or her. If you find that he or she loved having the break from a particular task, do it over and over again as often as you can.

One of the most recognizable symbols of a celebration is a balloon! Fill your car with balloons and take them home to him or her. Fill the living room before he or she gets home from work. Make sure you have some balloons marked with your names in hearts on them and some should have personal messages written as well. Begin the celebration of your love today.

Start celebrating each major and minor holiday with your spouse. Begin with New Year's Eve and do it big. Go to New York City and go to Times Square if that's as big as you can think! Valentine's Day should be done as lavishly as possible. On the Fourth of July, plan to attend the most extravagant fireworks display you can find or plan on making fireworks of your own at home. Always celebrate each other's birthdays and do it with flair. Your Anniversary should be a special day and celebrated with an expensive bottle of your favorite drink. Get dressed up on Halloween as your favorite fantasy characters and role-play for the entire evening. Celebrate any and every day you want by staying home from work and playing in bed. Celebrate as often of infrequently as you want to, but make sure you take the time to play, surprise each other and celebrate your relationship.

Wedding Speeches

I would like to cover every aspect of this topic. In order to keep things short I have only included the major topics detailed as good as possible.

A marriage is a time of joyousness and laughter, and there is no better way to express this than through a wedding speech. Many people find that having to give a speech is akin to upright on the ledge of a 40 story construction with nothing between you and the ground some four hundred or so feet below. However, if handled the right way marriage speeches need not be the machine of torment that we expect it to be.

And this applies not only to the person who has to say the speech, but also to the speaker’s audience, the mediocre captive guests. If you have a good speech in hand, and are somewhat surefooted of your bringing of the speech, you can turn a night – or day – of dreary wedding speeches into something to be marveled at and enjoyed for years to come.

Of course, this is where the bug comes in. To begin with most people find it difficult to get down on paper a speech that is truly good. And for those of us who find ourselves able to write a midway properly marriage speech, most of the time we will write it in such a way that it doesn't sound like something that would come out of our mouths – thereby wrecking a perfectly good delivery even before you get to it.

There are n-ways to circumvent this, like Using speech writing software, or plain and merely Taking a ready prepared speech off the internet, but there is a better method and this involves Taking on the services of professional person writers who have experience in authorship wedding speeches.

For those of us who will resort to this method to get a great speech in our hands, the professional person writers will be able to give you a few first drafts of marriage speeches for you to opt from, whereat you can then decide on a manner that you like for you own wedding speech.

Once you have the wedding speech in your hands, the next step to devising the sure everybody at the marriage enjoys at lowest one of the wedding speeches, is to make sure that you either practice your speech until you’re easy with it, or you go through it a pair of times to familiarise yourself with it.

You can even jot down a few notes, rather on the back of a palm sized card. You will then be able to reference back to these crucial points to make sure that your speech is staying on track.

And if the unthinkable happens and you have to change your speech more or less to suit the other wedding speeches of the moment, organize beforehand with confidence. You have the power to give a good speech, and deep down you know it... for more information on this topic, please check our web site by following our link below...

In conclusion I’d like to say thank you to you for reading this article and good luck with any issues related to this information.

My Marriage and What It Means for You

Marylyn Mann Warren and I were married in Santa Monica, California on March 22, 1959. For 43 years we have enjoyed what I would rate as an "A" marriage, and we have experienced the good life at a level far above any we had a reasonable right to expect.

I wish I could describe what it's like to be married to this woman. The experience of being with her is far better than I know how to put into words. But I want to try.

When I wake up and see her every morning, our relationship seems fresh and alive. We report on our night -- our sleep, our dreams, the peacefulness of our "time away" -- and I sense she listens intently to my report because she really cares. This morning she brought me some strawberries -- clean and sliced -- and the morning paper. Without speaking a word, we both try hard to sense the other person's needs and quietly meet them. She is better at this than I am, but I feel more and more motivated with the years.

She finished paying all our bills this morning. I trust her totally with every aspect of our life together. And she seems to trust me too. Our trust for one another is deeper than I know how to measure.

And she wrapped a present for our daughter's birthday this morning too. Her love for our three daughters and our nine grandchildren is as pure as falling snow. She just flat out loves every member of her family. I can't imagine having someone love "my" daughters and "my" grandchildren as much as she does.

She headed off to the gym when I left for the office for a radio interview. I was on with a woman in Louisville who was talking with me about my book, "Date...or Soul Mate?" This bright and articulate interviewer said right off that she doesn't believe in soul mates. I said, "Let me tell you about Marylyn." And when I finished with my description of what my soul mate is for me, it suddenly occurred to me that the thought of ever being without Marylyn triggers anxiety in me. When you've found your soul mate, you don't even want to imagine what life would be like without them.

I tell audiences all across the country that if anybody wants to stay single, they should be encouraged to do so. There is absolutely no theoretical requirement to marry, and we should pressure no one to think they need to be married to be "enough."

But as soon as I say this, I always reflect on how magnificent my life with Marylyn has been and is. I secretly believe that being married to your soul mate is the richest part of the human experience, an experience of heaven on earth, and I will never grow weary of rattling on about being the fortunate man who found the woman who has graced my life so lavishly all these years.

I've sometimes wondered how I was so "fortunate" to find Marylyn -- and I hope, of course, that she feels "so fortunate" too.

Maybe we have good intuition about how to select a marriage partner, but I don't really believe in "intuition." In "Finding the Love of Your Life," I argue strongly against the use of it to make a wise and prudent selection of a soul mate. But if it wasn't intuition that brought Marylyn and me together, I get really nervous. To the best of my knowledge, we didn't know enough about the rules of mate selection to make a decision that would serve us well for a year or two, let alone 43 years and counting.

And four of our six closest friends in growing up have each been married THREE times. They were at least as bright as Marylyn and I are, at least as well meaning and hard working. Why did our marriage thrive? There's no good reason -- except we blindly managed to pair ourselves with someone with whom we were, quite by chance I think, well matched.

As marriages around us began to crumble, and as I thought about our three daughters getting married, I desperately didn't want them to fail in this critical area of their lives. And I didn't want them to have to rely on the same good "fortune" on which Marylyn and I had so unwittingly depended.

And so, years ago, I began to look for the rules that govern good mate selection. For 35 years of clinical practice, I watched hundreds of marriages succeed or fail on the basis of the keeping of (or not keeping) these yet unknown rules. Eventually, we began to pin these rules down through our research. And now, we are deeply confident that we have a list of matching variables, of "critical rules," that make it possible for us to match two people with considerably higher odds for a lifetime of happiness.

What I passionately want for every couple that gets married through eHarmony is for them to have a marriage that is as gratifying as the marriage Marylyn and I have. You know I am not bragging when I say that we are best friends, that we have found profound meaning in our relationship and our family, that we have experienced deep joy in our life together.

We are so outlandishly fortunate. We walked over thin ice in the dark of night, and it didn't break. No one needs to count on this level of luck and chance. The rules seem so clear now. They require hard work, but I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that a soul mate relationship is worth every bit of hard work it requires. It is, on this earth, the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Famous Friends

It was New Years Eve, I'd spent the evening at my friend's house playing board games and eating. It struck me how this was a real thirty something's way to spend New Year. I must also really be a grown up as I was enjoying it. After midnight we watched Jools Holland's annual Hootenanny show. In the audience were two people I once knew. One was a guy I went to drama school with; the other talking to him was someone I shared a flat with, both of whom have become successful TV and film actors. It was odd to see the two of them talking. Would it be important to them that they both knew me? I doubt it; I was having that familiar strange feeling I feel when I see people who are no longer in my life on TV and film. Having worked in theatre with actors for this long, and known rock stars and comedians, you would think I was used to this feeling by now. However I had never really put my finger on what this feeling was. I worried it could be the green eyed monster called jealousy. As it's a new year I felt it was time for a new start and to analyse this emotion and see what it could be.

I thought back to the first time I tried to break into 'the fame game'. I was nineteen and I put forward my friend and myself for a TV show. He got it and I didn't. Yep that feeling was jealousy, and nasty 'what if's' filled my mind. In the end, the event never made any difference to his life at all; somehow I had thought that it would. I first wanted to be famous when I was at school. At school the main topic of conversation is last night's TV. I felt if I was on TV that I would get some respect and people would like me. The first time I was on TV as part of a studio audience and then later to do a talk on drugs, I heard word back from a girl I hadn't seen since school three years before, who said 'Becky Walsh hasn't changed at all, she is still as crap as she was at school'. So the illusion of fame was gone.

At drama school I studied stage management. I have worked with many actors, both famous and not so famous. I have found the famous ones tend to be (on the whole) nicer than the non-famous ones. It seems to me that the less you have to prove, the more you can be yourself. This is with the exception of Rupert Everett, who I will never forgive for an incident at the Hampstead theatre involving a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. Though my life I have found myself falling into work on stage and TV. Doing stand up comedy, talks and bits of theatre. My most significant moment was Co-writing, performing and producing 'Wretch' a one-woman show at The New End Theatre in Hampstead. I had never done anything so scary, but so wonderful in my life. I was truly changed by it. The feeling it left me with stayed for many years. Like the one thing I had ever done in my life that was really worthwhile. Until I realised that it might just become the only thing I ever do in my life that is worthwhile. As more people I once knew became publicly recognised I realised I didn't want to have an ordinary life. I found the odd feeling I had in my stomach was worse when it was a person I had helped in someway in the past. Their life moving on without my friendship and me feeling like I wasn't moving at all. A few odd things had happened. One was seeing my ex-boyfriend be married by Robbie Williams. The other was, having lived under the same roof as Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, watching the Channel Four sitcom 'Spaced,' which had more than one reference to our time living together in Cricklewood.

I realised that whatever it was I wanted to do with my life, it was to make a difference in someone else's life. My psychic Mediumship work was coming on strongly. I was running it alongside my theatre career. I had found that the feeling this work gave me matched up to the feelings from 'Wretch'. I remembered why I had always wanted to get involved with theatre. It was to give the audience that feeling when you leave the auditorium seeing something that has really changed you. I get that opportunity everyday with my work. I also realised that channelling spirit message to an audience or on TV or Radio would get the message out there and touch more people. The true purpose of why I have always felt drawn to the media became apparent. It's a fantastic tool for healing.

Taking all this into account, I realised that part of my feeling was indeed jealousy, although more so in the past than over New Year. People fulfilling their dreams remind you that yours are also possible. So you can be positive and make it happen, or you can be negative and wish it were you. But apart from the slight pang of envy, sitting watching my old friends celebrating with a host of other glamorous celebs live on TV, I realised what it was. You know when you see someone you haven't seen for ages in the street, there is always a weird feeling. But if you get to stop and talk at least for a short time a connection is made again. By seeing these people on TV, I still have a connection to them, as if I still know them. They have no connection to me and I am in fact a part of their past, one I guess they don't look back on much. I look back on it, as I am seeing them, I can't help it. Like all of your old photos being displayed on TV when you don't expect them to be there. I always find it hard to let go of people, and seeing them is like a tidemark on the bath, visibly and sometimes painfully showing how much you have changed. When someone is famous they are often changed. There is less chance of bumping into them in the street and if you did you might think they wouldn't want to speak to you, or they wouldn't remember you. You would probably be right. I feel it must be hard for actors bumping into other actors. Because when you have got somewhere your friends want to be, you may feel apologetic about it, making both parties uncomfortable.

As a psychic, I have friends who knew me when I worked in theatre. These are the people I can say anything to; without them thinking it might have more meaning than the basic opinion of Becky Walsh, who let's face it, can be wrong. The channelled message is correct, but when I'm not working, of course I can be wrong in my opinion. I was once at a friend's house for dinner, a couple were having a bit of a row. As I left the house I was asked if I thought the couple would stay together. I said 'I doubt it the way they went on tonight'. That then became a psychic prediction! I love my old friends for not doing that, and the new ones who are clued up. So being famous must be a bit like that; it feels like you can only be yourself with fewer and fewer people. Having famous friends can become a definition of yourself, because you know them it makes you more interesting. Of course this is an illusion. I went out on a dinner date with a man who was in a famous band in the 80's. As we sat talking three men came over and joined us for a short time. My dinner partner was disappointed that I didn't recognise them, as they were at number one in the charts with 'Spaceman' two weeks before. I'm sure it made him feel more interesting to me because he knew them.

In truth we don't have the connection we feel we have with the people on the TV. But that doesn't stop us feeling it. I've done it myself when I've said hello to a face I recognise, only to find out I've only known them from TV. The feeling you have for old friends who do well is a mixed up one of pride and loss.

Can We Be Friends? Shifting From Partnership to Friendship

It's the dreaded four-word phrase… "Can we be friends?" It's a classic break-up line, but it's also an issue that must be faced when a relationship hits the rocks. In reality, the questions ought to be "should we be friends?" And, if so, "how will we define that relationship?" Below are some points to ponder when facing the partnership to friendship dilemma.

Take Care of Business:

Whether it's a marriage or simply a significant partnership, there are issues that you must manage when the romance ends. In the case of divorce, there is a legal process to manage. There may be property to divide. Decisions may have to be made about mutual friends and whether those relationships can continue. Focus first on the "business" of ending your relationship. It is your responsibility to manage this process with knowledge and dignity.

Take Care of Yourself:

Your first thought should not be about the place your ex will hold in your future. Focus on healing yourself. Take time to reflect on the relationship and learn the inevitable lessons that arise from that experience. Use your support network to heal emotionally. Use exercise, hobbies and your favorite activities to keep yourself physically active and vibrant. In most cases, you can't rely on your ex to help you recover or to garner closure. Fix yourself first.

Evaluate Your Intentions:

When approaching a friendship with an ex, take time to understand your motives for pursuing that relationship. Remember what defines a friendship: conversation, connection, support and mutual interests. Again, if your motive is to seek closure, "check up" on your former partner, rekindle your romance or inflict some sort of revenge on the one that wronged you, it is probably best to let more time past. If you are truly friends, time will not diminish that connection. Don't rush into something that is unhealthy or dysfunctional.

Assess Their Value:

From time to time, we all clean out our closets, getting rid of the clothes that no longer suit us. Too often, we don't do this with our friends and acquaintances. It is important that we fill our lives with people who bring value to our existence. Make a list of pros and cons to nurturing a friendship with your former partner. Realize that the same reasons that led to the relationship's end may be the factors that make a friendship with your ex unbeneficial. Be prepared to acknowledge the fact that someone who was a critical part of your past may not have a place in your future.

Set Rules and Stick By Them:

It happens all the time. You meet with a partner from the past for a friendly drink. One drink turns into six. Suddenly the time machine has been ignited and you are making mistakes you'll regret in the morning. Especially in the early stages of the friendship transition, it is important to set ground rules. If at any point in the evening your feelings shift to an unbalanced state, stand firm and go home. Set limits on your interaction if necessary to keep the situation platonic and positive.