Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Lover and Beloved

In the language of many traditions, God is referred to as the Beloved. This is especially true in the divine love poetry of the Sufis, but you also find it in the language of Christian mystics and, of course, the Bhakti poetry of India.

We -- the devotees, the seekers of the Divine -- are the "lovers." We are the ones who seek the Beloved through complete surrender to love.

The Beloved is often (though not always) thought of as male, while the lover is typically described as female. This is because the individual soul in its quest for divine union must become utterly receptive and it hopes to become "impregnated" with the divine life.

See also

	Marriage
	Sexual Union
	Sexual Union
	Sexual Union
	Sexual Union

Poems with the theme of Lover and Beloved

	Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said Love came
	Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [15] Sorrow looted this heart,
	Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [21] The day Love was illumined,
	Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [33] Lovers are sacrifices to the Beloved,
	Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [36] Piousness and the path of love
	Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [38] A pious one with a hundred beads on your rosary,
	Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [59] Those who seek annihilation in the Beloved and poverty in life
	Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [65] Love came and emptied me of self,
	Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said [142] Rise early at dawn, when our storytelling begins.
	Adyashanti The Shape of Love
	Alighieri, Dante The love of God, unutterable and perfect,
	Ammons, A. R. Identity
	Ammons, A. R. Still
	Andal The full moon day of Margazhi is here (from Tiruppavai)
	Ansari, Khwaja Abdullah Empty Me of Everything But Your Love
	Arnaut Daniel The firm desire that enters
	Ashford, Eric A Flame in the Eye of Love
	Ashford, Eric Dances with Sophia
	Ashford, Eric Loves Portrait
	Ashford, Eric Stay Close to the Lovers
	Ashford, Eric The Breath of Love
	Ashford, Eric The Journey
	Attar, Farid ud-Din The Dullard Sage
	Attar, Farid ud-Din The Valley of the Quest
	Attar, Farid ud-Din The Nightingale
	Attar, Farid ud-Din A dervish in ecstasy
	Attar, Farid ud-Din How long then will you seek for beauty here?
	Attar, Farid ud-Din Look -- I do nothing; He performs all deeds
	Attar, Farid ud-Din The Lover
	Attar, Farid ud-Din Looking for your own face
	Attar, Farid ud-Din Mysticism
	Aulia, Hazrat Nizamuddin In Allah's garden you gather roses,
	Bahu, Sultan I knew God well when love flashed before me.
	Bahu, Sultan So what if love's idol is hidden? One's heart will never be far away.
	Battacharya, Mahendranath Screening its face amongst lotus stalks
	ben Kallir, Eleazar Epithalamium
	Bernart de Ventadorn When I see the lark beating
	Berry, Wendell What We Need Is Here
	Bhitai, Shah Abdul Latif If you are seeking Allah,
	Blake, William Auguries of Innocence
	Blake, William Awake! awake O sleeper of the land of shadows (from Jerusalem)
	Blake, William Eternity
	Blake, William The Divine Image
	Brabazon, Francis Dawn is a Friend
	Brabazon, Francis Our drop souls are of the ocean of Truth
	Brabazon, Francis The Dawn-Song Of His Mouth (from Stay With God)
	Brabazon, Francis The world is being run on time
	Bronte, Emily No coward soul is mine,
	Bulleh Shah I have been pierced by the arrow of love, what shall I do ?
	Bulleh Shah Repeating the name of the Beloved
	Bulleh Shah What a carefree game He plays!
	Bulleh Shah Your love has made me dance all over.
	Chinook (Anonymous) Teach us, and show us the Way
	Clare of Assisi Draw me after You!
	Clare of Assisi Happy, indeed, is she whom it is given to share this sacred banquet,
	Clare of Assisi O blessed poverty,
	Clare of Assisi Place your mind before the mirror of eternity!
	Clare of Assisi When You have loved, You shall be chaste
	Cloud of Unknowing Blessed With a Kiss
	Cloud of Unknowing How Can I Deny You?
	Cloud of Unknowing The Crucifixion
	Cloud of Unknowing The Ecstasy of the Atoms
	Cloud of Unknowing The Recital
	Cloud of Unknowing What Am I?
	Coleridge, Samuel Taylor The Presence of Love
	Coleridge, Samuel Taylor To Nature
	Crashaw, Richard The Flaming Heart or the Life of the Glorious S. Teresa
	Crashaw, Richard To the Name above every Name, the Name of Jesus
	cummings, e. e. i thank You God for most this amazing
	cummings, e. e. love is a place
	Dadu Dayal So priceless is the birth, O brother,
	Dariya Who can describe the Source of the universe,
	Dariya Without love there can be no devotion and wisdom. (from Love Chapter)
	Dariya You have nothing to worry about.
	Dickinson, Emily [322] There came a Day at Summer�s full,
	Dickinson, Emily [611] I see thee better -- in the Dark --
	Dogen One of fifteen verses on Dogen's mountain retreat:
	Emerson, Ralph Waldo Brahma
	Emre, Yunus I am before, I am after
	Emre, Yunus One Who Is Real Is Humble
	Emre, Yunus The lover is outcast and idle
	Emre, Yunus The mature ones are a sea.
	Emre, Yunus True speech is the fruit of not speaking.
	Farid, Baba Sheikh Raga Asa
	Farid, Baba Sheikh The lanes are muddy and far is the house
	Francis of Assisi Let us desire nothing else
	Francis of Assisi Prayer from 'A Letter to the Entire Order'
	Francis of Assisi Prayer Inspired by the Our Father
	Francis of Assisi The Canticle of Brother Sun
	Galib, Seyh If I say that the skies have opened
	Galib, Seyh Love is a lamp of God, I am its moth;
	Ganjavi, Mahsati A world there is for those in love with mines of precious stones,
	Gibran, Kahlil Reason and Passion (from The Prophet)
	Govindasvamin Holy sixth day
	Granger, Ivan M. Bent
	Granger, Ivan M. Reflection
	Granger, Ivan M. Touch
	Granger, Ivan M. in love with the new sun
	Granger, Ivan M. The World's Cruel Kiss
	Granger, Ivan M. When the Spring Thaw Comes
	Granger, Ivan M. Adi Atman 6: vixen eyes
	Hadewijch Dew (from Love's Seven Names)
	Hadewijch God must give us a renewed mind (from Vale Millies)
	Hadewijch How she first made me beautiful promises (from Defense of Love)
	Hadewijch Love Has Seven Names
	Hadewijch Love has subjugated me:
	Hadewijch Love's constancy
	Hadewijch The madness of love
	Hadewijch What I sang so often of Love (from Defense of Love)
	Hafiz A New World
	Hafiz Hair disheveled, smiling lips, sweating and tipsy,
	Hafiz It Is Time to Wake Up!
	Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) Consumed in Grace
	Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) Geronimo
	Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) How Could a Lover Fall?
	Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) I Have Learned So Much
	Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) Love is the Funeral Pyre
	Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) That Lamp That Needs No Oil
	Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) That Magnificent Storm
	Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) The Thousand-Stringed Instrument
	Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) What the Hell
	Hallaj I am the One whom I love
	Hallaj Kill me, my faithful friends,
	Hanh, Thich Nhat Looking for Each Other
	Hayati, Bibi Before there was a hint of civilization
	Hekhalot Hymns (Anonymous) The Face of God
	Herbert, George Church-Monuments
	Herbert, George Prayer (I)
	Herbert, George The Pearl. Matthew 13
	Hildegard of Bingen O Euchari in leta via / Sequence for Saint Eucharius
	Hildegard of Bingen O ignis Spiritus Paracliti / Sequence for the Holy Spirit
	Holderlin, Friedrich Remembrance
	Holmes, Dick You Have Me
	Ibn 'Arabi, Muhyiddin As Night Let its Curtains Down in Folds
	Ibn 'Arabi, Muhyiddin I believe in the religion
	Ibn 'Arabi, Muhyiddin In the Mirror of a Man
	Ibn 'Arabi, Muhyiddin My heart has become capable of every form
	Ibn 'Arabi, Muhyiddin When my Beloved appears,
	Ibn 'Arabi, Muhyiddin While the sun's eye rules my sight,
	Ibn al-Farid, Umar In memory of the beloved (from The Wine Ode (al-Khamriyah))
	ibn Gabirol, Solomon "Rise and open the door that is shut,
	Iqbal, Allama Muhammad Bright are Thy tresses, brighten them even more, (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
	Iqbal, Allama Muhammad O Cup-bearer! Give me again that wine of love for Thee; (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
	Iqbal, Allama Muhammad Selfhood can demolish the magic of this world; (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
	Iqbal, Allama Muhammad To the Saqi (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
	Iraqi, Fakhruddin Every word of every tongue is
	Iraqi, Fakhruddin I want Union with Him
	Iraqi, Fakhruddin In those days
	Iraqi, Fakhruddin Love plays its lute behind the screen --
	Iraqi, Fakhruddin Love the phoenix cannot be trapped
	Iraqi, Fakhruddin O saki, fill a cup
	Iraqi, Fakhruddin We Yield Our Hearts
	Islam, Nazrul Come silently like the Moon
	Islam, Nazrul He who has seen my Mother
	Islam, Nazrul Let's Meet Hereafter!
	Islam, Nazrul mother, i may have been a naughty child,
	Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) As air becomes the medium for light when the sun rises, (from Self-Annihilation and Charity Lead the Soul...)
	Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) How the Soul Through the Senses Finds God in All Creatures
	Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) In losing all, the soul has risen (from Self-Annihilation and Charity Lead the Soul...)
	Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) Love beyond all telling, (from Self-Annihilation and Charity Lead the Soul...)
	Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) When you no longer love yourself (from Self-Annihilation and Charity Lead the Soul...)
	Jami, Ahmad Even from earthly love thy face avert not,
	Jayadeva Raga Gujri
	Jayadeva When he quickens all things (from The Gitagovinda)
	Jayadeva [3] When spring came, tender-limbed Radha wandered (from The Gitagovinda)
	Jayadeva [6] My heart values his vulgar ways, (from The Gitagovinda)
	Jnanadev The Union of Shiva and Shakti (from Amritanubhav)
	John of the Cross Dark Night
	John of the Cross Full of Hope I Climbed the Day
	John of the Cross Love's Living Flame
	John of the Cross On the Communion of the Three Persons (from Romance on the Gospel)
	John of the Cross The Sum of Perfection
	John of the Cross Without a Place and With a Place
	Kabir Hang up the swing of love today!
	Kabir The Lord is in Me
	Kabir When the Day Came
	Kabir [XVII] The light of the sun, the moon, and the stars shines bright:
	Kabir (6) The moon shines in my body
	Kabir (8) Within this earthen vessel
	Kamalakanta Mother,
	Kerouac, Jack Bowery Blues
	Kerouac, Jack The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
	Khayyam, Omar [35] I think the Vessel, that with fugitive
	Khayyam, Omar [62] Another said -- "Why, ne'er a peevish Boy,
	Kirmani, Hamid al-Din Swept Away
	Lalla (Ded, Lal) At the end of a crazy-moon night
	Lawrence, D. H. Deeper Than Love
	Lee, Li-Young From Blossoms
	Leon, Luis de Ode to Francisco Salinas
	Leon, Luis de The Life Removed
	Levertov, Denise Beginners
	Levertov, Denise The Secret
	Levine, Stephen Half life
	Llull, Ramon January (from The Book of the Lover and Beloved)
	Machado, Antonio Songs
	Maghsoud, Moulana Shah The light of the beloved rises from the horizon of my heart,
	Mahadevi, Akka He bartered my heart
	Mahadevi, Akka I love the Handsome One:
	Mahadevi, Akka Like a silkworm weaving
	Maharshi, Ramana The Marital Garland of Letters
	Maier, Michael Three Golden Apples from the Hesperian grove. (from Atalanta Fugiens)
	Manikkavacakar While unperishing love melted my bones,
	Mathias, Michael The Tower of Silence
	Mathias, Michael (9) My Blind Musicians (from Tagore: Gallery of Sketches)
	Mathias, Michael (10) The Tree of Kabbalah - The Kiss (from The Cosmic Soul and the World Tree)
	McCombs, Chris Divine Lovers
	McCombs, Chris Finish Me Off
	McCombs, Chris Go Deeper
	McCombs, Chris The Friend Is Always There
	McCombs, Chris Your Pilot
	Mechthild of Magdeburg Effortlessly,
	Mechthild of Magdeburg Of the voices of the Godhead
	Mechthild of Magdeburg The devil also offers his spirit
	Mechthild of Magdeburg Then shall I leap into love
	Mei, Yuan Climbing the Mountain
	Merton, Thomas O Sweet Irrational Worship
	Mirabai Dark Friend, what can I say?
	Mirabai Friend, without that Dark raptor
	Mirabai I am true to my Lord,
	Mirabai No one knows my invisible life.
	Mirabai O my friends,
	Mirabai Unbreakable, O Lord,
	Mirabai Why Mira Can't Come Back to Her Old House
	Misri, Niyazi Now No Trace Remains
	Namdev The thundering resonance of the Word
	Nasimi, Imadeddin At love's most sumptuous feast was I with love made drunk -
	Nasimi, Imadeddin I take the Merciful One�s shape, the Merciful I am.
	Nawaz, Gharib Riddle
	Nawaz, Gharib The Second Jesus
	Nematollah Vali, Shah I beheld my essence. What I saw
	Nematollah Vali, Shah The Sea Is Our Essence
	Neruda, Pablo Gautama Christ
	Neruda, Pablo [17] I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
	Nirmala A lasting marriage
	Nirmala it is here
	Nirmala why fear this moment
	Novalis Over I journey
	Novalis Uplifted is the stone --
	O'Donohue, John Beannacht / Blessing
	O'Donohue, John May the light of your soul guide you.
	O'Donohue, John On the death of the Beloved
	Oliver, Colin Love
	Oliver, Mary In Blackwater Woods
	Oliver, Mary Spring
	Oliver, Mary Wild Geese
	Osborne, Arthur Arunachala
	Po, Li The Cold Clear Spring at Nanyang
	Porete, Marguerite Beguines say I err...
	Porete, Marguerite Beloved, what do you want of me?
	Porete, Marguerite How Love names the Soul by twelve names
	Porete, Marguerite How Truth Praises Such Souls
	Porete, Marguerite O Lover of gentle nature,
	Porete, Marguerite Peace of charity in the annihilated life
	Porete, Marguerite Thought is no longer of worth to me,
	Porete, Marguerite You who would read this book,
	Rabia (Al-'Adawiyya, Rabi'a) Brothers, my peace is in my aloneness.
	Rabia (Al-'Adawiyya, Rabi'a) My joy --
	Rabia (Al-'Adawiyya, Rabi'a) O my Lord, the stars glitter
	Ramakrishna Is there anyone in the universe,
	Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Its value beyond assessment by the mind
	Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Love Her, Mind;
	Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Who is that Syama woman
	Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Why disappear into formless trance?
	Ravidas If You are a mountain,
	Reninger, Elizabeth Basin
	Reninger, Elizabeth Deluge
	Reninger, Elizabeth True Love
	Reninger, Elizabeth Vision
	Reninger, Elizabeth Wood Pile
	Rilke, Rainer Maria Duration of Childhood
	Rilke, Rainer Maria The Second Elegy (from The Duino Elegies)
	Rosenstock, Gabriel (51) the grace showered on me (from Uttering Her Name)
	Rumi, Jelaluddin By the God who was in pre-eternity living and moving and omnipotent, everlasting.
	Rumi, Jelaluddin I'm neither beautiful nor ugly
	Rumi, Jelaluddin Love is Here
	Rumi, Jelaluddin No end to the journey
	Rumi, Jelaluddin On Love
	Rumi, Jelaluddin Seizing my life in your hands, you thrashed me clean
	Rumi, Jelaluddin That moon which the sky never saw
	Rumi, Jelaluddin The glow of the light of daybreak is in your emerald vault, the goblet of the blood of twilight is your blood-measuring bowl.
	Rumi, Jelaluddin The Sun Must Come
	Rumi, Jelaluddin Whoever finds love
	Rumi, Jelaluddin [82] Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
	Rumi, Jelaluddin A World with No Boundaries (Ghazal 363)
	Rumi, Jelaluddin [1246] The minute I heard my first love story
	Saadi If one His praise of me would learn,
	Sanai, Hakim Mystic Chat
	Sanai, Hakim Streaming
	Saraha The Royal Song of Saraha (Dohakosa)
	Sarmad Companion
	Sarmad To the dignified station of love I was raised,
	Shabistari, Mahmud Sun-Reflections (from The Secret Rose Garden)
	Shabistari, Mahmud The Beloved Guest (from The Secret Rose Garden)
	Shabistari, Mahmud The Tavern Haunters
	silent lotus Hurdles
	silent lotus In the Clearing
	Silesius, Angelus God, whose love and joy
	Singh, Darshan How did I ever think silence the language of love?
	Singh, Darshan In what state was I
	Solovyov, Vladimir Three Meetings
	Stein, Edith I Will Remain With You...
	Stein, Edith Novena Of The Holy Spirit
	Symeon the New Theologian We awaken in Christ's body
	Tagore, Rabindranath I touch God in my song
	Tagore, Rabindranath (38) I want thee, only thee (from Gitanjali)
	Teasdale, Sara I Am Not Yours
	Teasdale, Sara Oh You Are Coming
	Teasdale, Sara Two Songs for Solitude
	Teresa of Avila In the Hands of God
	Teresa of Avila Oh Exceeding Beauty
	Thayumanavar Prayer to Being - Let Us Contemplate
	Thayumanavar To have reached the state of impassivity that holds (from Bliss that is Perfect Full)
	Therese of Lisieux The Atom of Jesus-Host
	Therese of Lisieux My Song for Today
	Therese of Lisieux The Divine Dew
	Thompson, Francis The Hound of Heaven
	Tilopa Song of the Mahamudra (Tilopa's Song to Naropa)
	Tiruvalluvar Love
	Traherne, Thomas Love
	Tukaram Thou art more kind than mother dear,
	Tulsidas The Rainy Season
	Vidyapati All my inhibition left me in a flash,
	Vidyapati My friend, I cannot answer when you ask me to explain
	Vidyapati The moon has shone upon me,
	Walters, Dorothy Ruined by Your Beauty
	Walters, Dorothy Taken
	Wei, Wang My Cottage at Deep South Mountain
	Whitman, Walt [2] Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes, (from Song of Myself)
	Whitman, Walt [7] Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born? (from Song of Myself)
	Wordsworth, William For I have learned (from Tintern Abbey)
	Yeats, William Butler Crazy Jane and God
	Yeats, William Butler The Secret Rose
	Yogananda, Paramahansa Prayer for the Great Enlightenment
	Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [31] Holding truth and rejecting delusion-- (from The Shodoka)

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Lover and Beloved

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World