poems about heartbreak
Heartbreak is the end of something cherished. It can feel like the the end of the world…or, at least, your world. But it’s also the beginning of something new. These poems take a (mostly) hopeful look at heartbreak and its aftermath. We hope you enjoy them.
birdsong
A bird with a broken wing
met another with a broken heart.
Together they learned to sing.
soulless
Two lovers
shared one soul.
It was not enough,
so they ate it whole,
leaving them
soulless.
heartspring
Her heart wasn’t just broken.
It was drowned/shot/stabbed/
torn/punctured/smashed/
cut/crushed/macerated.
So she lived without it,
looking outwards,
helping others patch their wounds,
until one day…
it grew back.
hearts of glass
Two brittle hearts
collided.
They shattered
on impact
into shards of
sharp-edged love
that cut
innocent passersby
who mistakenly thought
they were to blame.
escape (haiku)
It was time to leave.
She laced up her running shoes
and ran far away.
love for a season
Love came in the spring
like a gentle breeze.
It became a torrid summer
of cool drinks and hot, slick limbs,
then a dry, windy fall.
Leaves and insults crackled underfoot.
In winter, their hearts froze
until another spring
melted them away.
love squeeze
Love that holds you tight
and squeezes you until
you can’t
take
another
breath
isn’t love at all.
It’s possession.
Or a boa constrictor.
air castles
His words were a
castle.
His actions were a
cyclone.
As she ran
to the castle,
it blew away.
a quilt of stars
They broke up, and she broke into
as many pieces as there are stars.
She prowled the dark parts of the universe,
gathering scraps of herself in a velvet bag.
She sewed them into a quilt of fear
and pain and joy and hope
and the courage to love again.
she stole it back
He stole her heart
and left it
under lock and key.
It grew
Dusty.
Rusty.
Uncared for.
One night she stole the key,
unlocked her heart,
and slipped away,
beautiful, free,
and hungry.
broken love
With one wrong word,
love shattered
in her mouth.
She swallowed
the broken fragments.
They lodged
in her throat,
piercing her
from the inside out.
The blood
in her mouth
tasted like
failure.
And yet she hungered
for more.
web of lies
She was afraid
he would leave
so she spun a web
of silken promises
and dreams.
Once he was
caught fast,
she spun a new web,
in a different
part of the woods.
divided heart
She carved her
heart into ten pieces
and shared it
among her
friends
lovers
parents
children
From each piece
grew a beating heart
full and joyous
and able to
break and bleed.
Eventually,
all her hearts broke.
But the love
outweighed
the pain.
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