8 Romantic Poems in Spanish for Valentine’s Day
Are you looking for a unique way to woo your loved one this February?
There’s no greater romantic gesture than a heart-felt, or comedic, love poem.
Spanish is one of the best tools when it comes to rhythmic and expressive writing. This language enabled great poets like Pablo Neruda and Federico García Lorca to create famous Spanish poems about love, romance, and loss.
Uncover a new way to practice your second language by reading these 8 Spanish love poems to those you hold closest to your heart.
Just imagine the shining smile that will appear on your partner’s face and the smug satisfaction of knowing you’re the one who caused it.
Ready for a Spanish lesson on love?
The Importance of Reading Romantic Spanish Poetry
Spanish love poems are more than just a profession of feelings. They’re also an easy way to improve your second language!
Here are some key language skills that you gain from reading romantic Spanish poetry.
Expand Your Vocabulary
Reading Spanish is the best way to quickly grasp new vocabulary terms and phrases. Poetry makes this process even easier!
Spanish poems are much shorter than fictional novels or textbooks. Additionally, they are much more descriptive and use a greater variety of words.
The more poems you read, the more words you will learn!
Learn New Sentence Structures
It’s easy to get stuck in the same sentence writing pattern. However, poetry challenges you to create new ways to connect your Spanish words and phrases.
Poets are extremely innovative when it comes to their rhythmic writing. Learn to play with play and have fun with sentence structure by using their techniques!
Understand Cultural Differences
Spanish is a global language—people speak Spanish in over 20 countries!
Each Spanish-speaking area has its own unique way to use this versatile language. There are Spanish poets from dozens of countries!
Read works from a diverse group of poets for a lesson in country-specific terms, slang, and culture.
8 Spanish Love Poems To Share With Your Valentine
Here are 8 Spanish Valentine’s poems that will bring your romance to life!
Each of these beautiful Spanish love poems comes with English translation and a short analysis so that you can easily impress your partner.
Jump to the poem category:
Famous Love Poems
Here are some of the most well-known examples of Spanish poetry about love.
1. Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda is one of the greatest Latin American poets of all time.
This author was a Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician all rolled into one. He even received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971 to honor his powerful writing.
Sonnet XVII is just one of many poems from Neruda’s famous book Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair.
However, this piece stands out through its deep metaphors and descriptive similes that detail what it truly means to love someone.
This poem’s potent lines can be found in numerous stories and films, like Patch Adams.
Neruda knocks down the traditional symbols of love like red roses and Cupid arrows. Instead, he depicts this emotion as existing beyond the physical world, somewhere “between the shadow and the soul.” According to Neruda, his wave of feelings cannot be simplified down into something as trifle as an arrow.
Soneto 17
No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio
o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego:
te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras,
secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma.
Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva
dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores,
y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo
el apretado aroma que ascendió de la tierra.
Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde,
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:
así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera,
sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.
Love Sonnet XVII
Translated by Mark Eisner
I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as one loves certain obscure things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries
the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,
and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose
from the earth lives dimly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you directly without problems or pride:
I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love,
except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close that your eyes close with my dreams.
2. Let’s Make a Deal by Mario Benedetti
Like many successful poets, Mario Benedetti lived a historic life.
This poet spent more than 12 years jumping from country to country after being exiled from his Uruguayan home. Benedetti’s poetry is just like his life, eclectic and political.
“Let’s Make a Deal” is about much more than just a contract shared between two individuals. Ripped from his wife’s side and expelled from his native country, Benedetti illustrates his personal feelings of loss and love.
Unlike most poems, Hagamos un trato doesn’t use complicated language or extravagant adjectives. Rather, Benedtti creates military metaphors like “don’t alert your rifles” to depict the war going on in both his country and his heart.
Hagamos un trato
Compañera
usted sabe
puede contar
conmigo
no hasta dos
o hasta diez
sino contar
conmigo
si alguna vez
advierte
que la miro a los ojos
y una veta de amor
reconoce en los míos
no alerte sus fusiles
ni piense qué delirio
a pesar de la veta
o tal vez porque existe
usted puede contar
conmigo
si otras veces
me encuentra
huraño sin motivo
no piense qué flojera
igual puede contar
conmigo
pero hagamos un trato
yo quisiera contar
con usted
es tan lindo
saber que usted existe
uno se siente vivo
y cuando digo esto
quiero decir contar
aunque sea hasta dos
aunque sea hasta cinco
no ya para que acuda
presurosa en mi auxilio
sino para saber
a ciencia cierta
que usted sabe que puede
contar conmigo.
Let’s Make a Deal
Partner
you know
you can count
on me
not up to two
or up to ten
but count
on me
if some time
shows
that I look into your eyes
and you recognize
a streak of love
coming from mine
don’t alert your rifles
nor think it’s delirium
in spite of the streak
or perhaps because it exists
you can count
on me
if other times
you find me
shy without motive
don’t think it’s feebleness
you can count on me
the same
but let’s make a deal
I would like to count
on you
it’s very beautiful
to know that you exist
one feels alive
and when I say this
I mean counting
even if it’s up to two
even if it’s up to five
not just so that you respond
hastily to my aid
but to know
for certain
that you know that you can
count on me.
Love Poems for Her
These love poems are perfect for husbands and boyfriends looking for a way to express their deep love.
3. It’s True by Federico García Lorca
Looking for a way to dramatically profess your love like a real-life Romeo? Es verdad is the perfect poem to loudly recite under your loved one’s window on Valentine’s Day.
In his poem, “It’s True,” Federico García Lorca speaks freely about his unparalleled feelings, without care for what others might say.
Unfortunately, it is likely that Lorca is expressing an unrequited or impossible love. He agonizingly describes “the pain it costs” to love the object of his affection.
Loving someone also means that you have someone to lose. As a result, pain and love are constantly intertwined. You simply cannot have one without experiencing the other.
Read this poem to someone who you think is worth the pain.
Es verdad
¡Ay qué trabajo me cuesta
quererte como te quiero!
Por tu amor me duele el aire,
el corazón
y el sombrero.
¿Quién me compraría a mí
este cintillo que tengo
y esta tristeza de hilo
blanco, para hacer pañuelos?
¡Ay qué trabajo me cuesta
quererte como te quiero!
It’s True
Translated by A. S. Kline
Ay, the pain it costs me
to love you as I love you!
For love of you, the air, it hurts,
and my heart,
and my hat, they hurt me.
Who would buy it from me,
this ribbon I am holding,
and this sadness of cotton,
white, for making handkerchiefs with?
Ay, the pain it costs me
to love you as I love you!
Funny Love Poems
Cheesy Spanish pick up lines and silly love poems are a sure way to put a smile on your loved one’s face.
4. Ovillejos by Miguel Cervantes
Ovillejos is a poem from Don Quixote, a widely read literary classic by Spanish author Miguel Cervantes.
Ovillejo is not just a name, but also a style of poetry!
This type of writing got its name from the beautiful flow of its ten lines. An ovillo in Spanish is a ball of yarn or wool. The ovillejo style slowly unravels itself, similar to a spool of thread, through each stanza.
Use this poem to unravel your romantic feelings line by line. Each stanza will bring you closer and closer together as you recite these heartfelt lines.
Eloquently tell your partner, “And what gnaws me through and through? Missing you!”
Ovillejos
¿Quién menoscaba mis bienes?
¡Desdenes!
Y ¿quién aumenta mis duelos?
¡Los celos!
Y ¿quién prueba mi paciencia?
¡Ausencia!
De este modo en mi dolencia
ningún remedio se alcanza,
pues me matan la esperanza,
desdenes, celos y ausencia.
¿Quién me causa este dolor?
¡Amor!
Y ¿quién mi gloria repuna?
¡Fortuna!
Y ¿quién consiente mi duelo?
¡El cielo!
De este modo yo recelo
morir deste mal extraño,
pues se aúnan en mi daño
amor, fortuna y el cielo.
¿Quién mejorará mi suerte?
¡La muerte!
Y el bien de amor, ¿quién le alcanza?
¡Mudanza!
Y sus males, ¿quién los cura?
¡Locura!
Dese modo no es cordura
querer curar la pasión,
cuando los remedios son
muerte, mudanza y locura.
Ovillejos
Translation by Paul Archer
What undermines all I attempt?
Contempt!
What heaps sorrow onto me?
Jealousy!
And what gnaws me through and through?
Missing you!
That’s why nothing will do
to make my distress less –
I’m killed by hopelessness,
contempt, jealousy and missing you!
What is it that makes me feel so rough?
Love!
What makes my puffed-up pride deflate?
Fate!
And what’s allowed all this to happen?
Heaven!
That’s why I have no time for them,
these evil strangers that thwart me,
ganging up together to hurt me –
love, fate and heaven!
What will change my luck? What’s left?
Only death!
And as for love, in all its profusion?
Delusion!
For all its woes, what’s the only redress?
Madness!
See how we get into this crazy mess
when trying to heal love’s pains,
if, after all else, the final cure remains
only death, delusion and madness!
5. Armored Heart by Mario Benedetti
Have you ever experienced the frustration and uncertainty of unrequited love? Don’t worry, you’re not alone!
Even successful poets, like Mario Benedetti, struggle when it comes to matters of the heart. But, this pain is what makes their writing so powerful!
Corazón coraza is about a shy, platonic love that is impossible to reach because of a heart armored with pride. Benedetti eloquently details the all-encompassing heartbreak he feels at the mere thought of his infatuation.
This poem’s romantic lines like “you are beautiful from your toe to your soul” and “worse than dying is not looking at you” will have your partner swooning!
Corazón coraza
Porque te tengo y no
porque te pienso
porque la noche está de ojos abiertos
porque la noche pasa y digo amor
porque has venido a recoger tu imagen
y eres mejor que todas tus imágenes
porque eres linda desde el pie hasta el alma
porque eres buena desde el alma a mí
porque te escondes dulce en el orgullo
pequeña y dulce
corazón coraza
porque eres mía
porque no eres mía
porque te miro y muero
y peor que muero
si no te miro amor
si no te miro
porque tú siempre existes dondequiera
pero existes mejor donde te quiero
porque tu boca es sangre
y tienes frío
tengo que amarte amor
tengo que amarte
aunque esta herida duela como dos
aunque te busque y no te encuentre
y aunque
la noche pase y yo te tenga
y no.
Armored heart
Because I have and don’t have you,
because I think about you,
because the night is young,
because the night passes and I speak of love,
because you have come to collect your photo,
and you are better than all your photos,
because you are beautiful from your toe to your soul
because you are good to me from your soul
because you hide in your soft pride
your small and soft
armored heart
because you are mine
because you are not mine
because I look at you and I die,
and worse than dying
is not looking at you, love,
not looking at you.
because you can always live where you want,
but your life is better where I love you,
because your mouth is blood
and you feel cold
I have to love you, love,
I have to love you
even though this wound hurts twice over
even though I search and do not find you
and even though
the night passes and maybe I have you
and maybe not.
Spanish Love Poems for Him From the Heart
Let the important man in your life feel appreciated with this heartfelt poem.
6. Give Me Your Hand by Gabriela Mistral
Literature Nobel Prize winner Gabriela Mistral is famous throughout Latin America for her lively and creative works of poetry.
This Chilean writer also doubled as an international educator and diplomat. Her famous works continue to spread the same message of love and peace that she worked so hard to create.
Dame la mano is a written representation of the joy that comes from spending time with the people you love.
Each verse has you moving and swinging in tune with the movement of its rhythm.
Grab your significant other’s hand and dance to the swaying beat of this poem together.
Dame la mano
Dame la mano y danzaremos;
dame la mano y me amarás.
Como una sola flor seremos,
como una flor, y nada más…
El mismo verso cantaremos,
al mismo paso bailarás.
Como una espiga ondularemos,
como una espiga, y nada más.
Te llamas Rosa y yo Esperanza;
pero tu nombre olvidarás,
porque seremos una danza
en la colina y nada más…
Give Me Your Hand
Give me your hand and we shall dance;
give me your hand and you shall love me.
Like one flower we shall be,
like a flower, and nothing more . . .
We shall sing the same verse,
you shall dance at the same pace.
Like a spike we shall undulate
like a spike, and nothing more.
Your name is Rose and mine is Hope,
but you shall forget your name,
because we shall be one dance
on the hillock and nothing more . . .
Short Love Poems
Looking for a quick way to express your love?
These short poems may be small, but they certainly don’t lack emotion. Each of these lyrical works packs intense feelings of love and longing into just a few stanzas.
7. If You Love Me, Love Me Entirely by Dulce María Loynaz
In her work, Si me quieres, quiéreme entera, Cuban poet Dulce María Loynaz commands her partner to love her wholly, or not at all.
In stark contrast to the many male poets who longingly search for love, Loynax does not beg for anyone’s affection. Rather, she demands to be loved for who she is and as she comes.
Furthermore, María Loyonaz makes no apologies, pleads, or exceptions to her request. The direct and strikingly honest words of her poem leave no room for hesitation or confusion.
This sincere poem is the perfect piece to ask for your partner’s entire heart.
Si me quieres, quiéreme entera
Si me quieres, quiéreme entera
No por zonas de luz o sombra.
Si me quieres, quiéreme negra
Y blanca. Y gris, y verde,
y rubia,
Y morena.
Quiéreme día,
Quiéreme noche.
¡Y madrugada en la ventana abierta!
Si me quieres,
no me recortes:
¡Quiéreme toda…
o no me quieras!
If You Love Me, Love Me Entirely
Translated by Dulce María Loynaz del Castillo
If you love me, love me entirely
Not by zones of light and shade.
If you love me, love me black
And white. And gray, and green
and blonde.
And brown.
Love me day,
Love me night.
And dawn in the open window!
If you love me
Do not cut me short:
Love me entirely…
Or do not love me!
8. Eternal Love by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Spanish poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer poses the question “could we love until the end of our lives?”
Many of the descriptions in “Eternal Love” relate to natural disasters and uncontrollable events. The author purposely uses these metaphors to represent the political and environmental problems surrounding him in real life.
Yet, despite all of these tragedies, Bécquer’s heart and affection do not change.
His exaggerated hyperboles demonstrate the vastness of his feelings towards the love of his life. From oceans running dry to the Earth’s axis shattering, nothing can stop Bécquer’s passion.
In Bécquer’s deep poem, love truly does conquer all.
Amor eterno
Podrá nublarse el sol eternamente;
Podrá secarse en un instante el mar;
Podrá romperse el eje de la tierra
Como un débil cristal.
¡Todo sucederá! Podrá la muerte
Cubrirme con su fúnebre crespón;
Pero jamás en mí podrá apagarse
La llama de tu amor.
Eternal Love
The face of the sun may darken forever,
The oceans run dry in an instant of fire.
The axis spinning our planet may shatter
Like so much brittle crystal.
Yes, all of that may happen! At the end, Death
May cover my flesh with her funeral shroud;
But none of it will reach within my soul and snuff
The bright flame of your love.
Reading Spanish Poems Is Great, But Speaking Spanish Is Even Better
Do you know what’s sure to impress your partner?
Being bilingual!
Nothing is more attractive than the determination and the desire to learn a new language. Being bilingual enables you to not only romance your partner with Spanish love poems but also improve yourself!
From higher pay to better cognitive abilities, there is no shortage of ways to enhance your everyday life through Spanish. Join more than 41 million Spanish speakers in the U.S. and start practicing this lyrical language today.
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