Friendship is one of the most beautiful things in life. It’s a bond that we create with someone, oftentimes without even realizing it. And sometimes, that friendship turns into something more special – love. These poems are about the beauty and simplicity of both friendship and love. They will undoubtedly inspire you and bring out your best smiles, laughs, and even tears. Enjoy!
1. Love and Friendship by Emily Brontë
Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree—
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?
The poem Love and Friendship by Emily Brontë serves as a comparison and contrast of love and friendship. Brontë presents each of them as a different kind of plant in order to examine both subjects’ reactions under various circumstances. She seems to be saying that just like those plants, friendship and love respond differently to the seasons. When things turn out to be as severe and brutal as winter’s cold, only one will triumph. Brontë emphasized that of the two notions, friendship is the more important one.
2. Friendship After Love by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
We do not wish the pain back, or the heat;
And yet, and yet, these days are incomplete.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, the poet, expresses in this Friendship After Love the disappointment of past lovers who attempt to retain their connection. Friendship leaves them feeling “incomplete” and “with a sense of loss” even if they no longer want to return to the agony of their mismatched love.
There is still “a touch of frost lies in the air” even if it appears peaceful and away from the sorrow of the breakup. There is always that unspoken uneasiness when you abruptly go from being really personal to being friends. The poem concludes with a tone that is incredibly unsatisfied and even frustrated. Because there is something strange about the friendship that you cannot identify the cause of.
3. Having a Coke with You by Frank O’Hara
is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne
or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona
Frank O’Hara’s poem Having a Coke with You is a gorgeously intricate poem about the speaker’s affection for the listener. This unconventional love poetry emphasizes the speaker’s affection for “you” by using details from his daily life. The speaker opens the poem by mentioning how much more enjoyable it is to share a coke with the listener than to go through Europe, while also implying the gender of his lover.
The speaker makes references to locations he desires to visit, such as the Frick Gallery, before focusing on a comparison between gazing at his beloved and admiring artwork. He would rather stare at this person than artwork (nearly) in every situation.
The poem claims that these artists wasted their lives by repeatedly working on the same thing. Instead of trying to spend all of the eternity portraying something that is unreachable, he would prefer to live his life and fall in love.
4. Hoping to Hear from a Former Friend by Margaret Hasse
Won’t you ever break your long silence?
Sorrow and anger keep my line open to you.
In Hoping to Hear from a Former Friend by Margaret Hasse the speaker wonders if her old acquaintance still recognizes her while on the phone. After all this time, she questions if her old acquaintance still hears her voice. After an awkward pause, her old friend speaks, mispronouncing her name. Out of mild embarrassment and perhaps even annoyance, the speaker hangs up thinking that her old buddy is only phoning to attempt to sell her something.
The speaker of the poem expresses her willingness for them to catch up in the conclusion, but she wonders if it will ever happen given how much time has passed. Some of your pals will change. The compatibility of people changes as well. Friendships frequently break apart because of a dispute of some kind. We must eventually clear the air and, at the very least, work out our disagreements.
5. Poem by Langston Hughes
I loved my friend.
He went away from me.
There’s nothing more to say.
Only six very short lines make up Poem, which Hughes dedicates to his allegedly deceased or departed buddy, F.S. An ending friendship is never easy, but it hurts even more when intimate friendships end. Langston Hughes’ Poem cuts through the fog to express it clearly. Readers are reminded of how grief spreads by the poem’s clarity, which feels undeniable.
This poem has a certain straightforwardness and beauty about it. Hughes uses his lack of words to examine his sense of abandonment and grief. The fact that Hughes failed to do so in this instance—and in the only poem he wrote that was directed to a specific person—evidence that he found this to be a very worrying matter. Hughes was undoubtedly a man who understood how to utilize words to express what he wanted to communicate. His absence of words in this instance communicates everything that needs to be said.
6. We Have Been Friends Together by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
We have been sad together—
Oh! what shall part us now?
Norton’s We Have Been Friends Together is a poignant poem with the theme of friendship and loss. The speaker recalls their friendship with another individual across their various life phases. When they were kids, they enjoyed playing outside. Together, they’ve had humorous and hopeful childhood delights. Even so, they have helped each other through their grief by lending each other their shoulders.
Despite all of that history, something—possibly a misunderstanding—has now arisen between them and is endangering the foundation of their enduring friendship. There is something that has strained the relationship, diminished the joy of the connection, and replaced the sound of company with quiet. The speaker begs his or her friend to insist on changing it.
7. A Love Letter To My Best Friend by Andrew Warner
If spring is the eager season, then you are the late bloomer of autumn
You are definitely orange…
Andy Warner, a recognized competitor in the 2017 Button Poetry Video Contest, wrote a great poem titled A Love Letter To My Best Friend. He has four poetry books out after becoming the youngest poet to win a regional and national spoken word competition.
There’s something special about loving your best friend. Whether it’s spending time together, sharing funny stories, or just being there for each other when things get tough. From best friends to lovers can happen in a snap. Sometimes, all it takes is for two people to be open and honest with each other. Once you’re both on the same page about what’s happening between you, everything else falls into place easily.
8. Love and Friendship Opposite by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
But Friendship, how tender so ever it be,
Gives no accord to Love, however refined.
In Love and Friendship Opposite, Coleridge explores and compares the nature of love and friendship. Compassion is the basis of friendship. However, there is a kind of opposite intensity or hostility in love. Both are parts of one whole, and each aspires to be the other.
9. Friendship by Henry David Thoreau
I think awhile of Love, and while I think,
Love is to me a world,
Sole meat and sweetest drink,
And close connecting link
Tween heaven and earth.
The notion of a friendship between two people is beautifully portrayed in Henry David Thoreau’s poem Friendship. Thoreau explores the notion of love in greater detail to explain this connection. By the end of this essay, he refers to himself and Emerson, his best friend, as “Two sturdy oaks.” Despite having different bodies, their roots are inextricably entwined.
Final thoughts
It’s never a bad time to reflect on all of the wonderful things love and friendship bring into our lives. The poems we’ve shared in this post are just a small sampling of the many beautiful pieces out there that celebrate these important relationships. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed putting them together. What is your favorite poem about friendship or love? Share it with us in the comments below!
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Thomas Dao is the guy who created Poem Home, a website where people can read about all things poetry related. When he’s not busy working on his next project, you can find him reading a good book or spending time with family and friends.
