29+ Breakup Poems to Deal With Your Heartbreak

Breakups are an inevitable part of our romantic journeys, leaving us with a whirlwind of emotions that can be challenging to navigate. When words fail to express the depth of our heartache, poetry often steps in as a powerful and cathartic outlet for our emotions. 

In times of heartbreak, a well-crafted poem can become a comforting companion, offering solace and understanding when we need it most.

Throughout history, poets have eloquently captured the raw essence of heartbreak, putting into verse the pain, sadness, and eventual healing that follows. In this collection, we present to you breakup poems for him and her that have the potential to become your refuge during these trying times. 

Each poem has been carefully selected for its ability to resonate with the myriad of emotions you may be experiencing, from the initial shock and sorrow to the eventual stages of acceptance and moving forward.

As you immerse yourself in the verses that follow, you will find solace in the knowledge that you are not alone in your heartbreak. Renowned poets have bared their souls through their verses, allowing us to connect with their experiences and find comfort in their words.

29 breakup poems to deal with your heartbreak

Breakups can be devastating, leaving us lost and wounded. Here are some heartfelt breaking up poems to help you navigate the depths of heartbreak and find solace in the healing power of words. You are surely going to feel warm, loved and cared for after reading these. 

• Love breakup poems

When the bonds of affection shatter, emotions overflow into verses. These poignant expressions of heartbreak navigate the labyrinth of love, offering solace to wounded souls. 

In this section, we explore a selection of breakup poems that delve deep into the complexities of love’s demise, providing catharsis through words.

1. “When we two parted” by Lord Byron 

When we two parted

In silence and tears,

Half broken-hearted

To sever for years,

Pale grew thy cheek and cold,

Colder thy kiss;

Truly that hour foretold

Sorrow to this.

2. “Love After Love” by Derek Walcott

The time will come

when, with elation,

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror,

and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

3. “Neutral Tones” by Thomas Hardy

We stood by a pond that winter day,

And the sun was white, as though chidden of God,

And a few leaves lay on the starving sod;

They had fallen from an ash, and were gray.

Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove

Over tedious riddles of years ago;

And some words played between us to and fro

On which lost the more by our love.

4. “I Carry Your Heart With Me” by E.E. Cummings

A poem about carrying the love of a former partner with you always. 

I carry your heart with me

I carry it in my heart

I am never without it anywhere 

I go you go,my dear”

5. “The Broken Heart” by John Donne

He is stark mad, whoever says,

That he hath been in love an hour,

Yet not that love so soon decays,

But that it can ten in less space devour;

Who will believe me, if I swear

That I have had the plague a year?

6. “Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part” by Michael Drayton

Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part.

Nay, I have done, you get no more of me;

And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart,

That thus so cleanly I myself can free.

Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,

And when we meet at any time again,

Be it not seen in either of our brows

That we one jot of former love retain.

Now at the last gasp of Love’s latest breath,

When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies;

When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,

And Innocence is closing up his eyes—

Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,

From death to life thou might’st him yet recover!

7. “The Secret” by John Clare 

I loved thee, though I told thee not,

Right earlily and long,

Thou wert my joy in every spot,

My theme in every song.

And when I saw a stranger face

Where beauty held the claim,

I gave it like a secret grace

The being of thy name.

And all the charms of face or voice

Which I in others see

Are but the recollected choice

Of what I felt for thee.

8. “You Were My Everything” by Joanna Fuchs

You were my everything;

Now you’re gone.

I don’t have the strength

To carry on.

Skies always seemed sunny

When you were here;

Now there’s nothing but gloom

In my atmosphere.

I loved you so much;

You were all I had;

Now my whole world

Is depressing and sad.

I’d like to start feeling

Other than blue,

But you were my everything,

What can I do?

9. “Remember” by Christina Rossetti

Remember me when I am gone away,

Gone far away into the silent land;

When you can no more hold me by the hand,

Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more day by day

You tell me of our future that you plann’d:

Only remember me; you understand

It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for a while

And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

For if the darkness and corruption leave

A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile

Than that you should remember and be sad.

• Goodbye breakup poems

Sometimes, saying goodbye is the only way to heal. In this section, we explore a selection of poignant breakup poems that offer closure, allowing you to bid farewell to a chapter of your life while embracing the promise of a brighter tomorrow.

These are heartbreak breakup poems and can sometimes offer a funny breakup poems perspective.

10. “Is This What Love Is” by Joanna Fuchs 

Is this all we have together?

Is this what love really is,

Yelling through a quarrel

And making up with a kiss?

Why can’t we get along?

Why do we have to fight?

We starve true love by day

And feed lust all through the night

11. “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne

So let us melt, and make no noise, 

No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; 

Twere profanation of our joys 

To tell the laity our love.

12. “Farewell” by Anne Bronte

Farewell to thee! but not farewell 

To all my fondest thoughts of thee: 

Within my heart they still shall dwell; 

And they shall cheer and comfort me.

13. “The Parting Lass” from a traditional Irish folk song

Of all the money that e’er I had 

I spent it in good company 

And all the harm that e’er I’ve done 

Alas it was to none but me.

14. “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell 

But at my back I always hear 

Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near; 

And yonder all before us lie 

Deserts of vast eternity.

15. “When We Were One” by Neville Johnson

Memories of you linger and flicker

Over the sands of the time

In wonder I treasure those times together

When the feeling was sublime

You may be gone but not the thought

Of the love that once we knew

So when I pause to remember

In all candor, the thought of you renews

Good wishes I send — that’s all I can do

To the one in the end who loved me so true

For which I shall ever give thanks

Dearest one, I’ll think of you

At the setting of my sun

For once a upon a time

Love was all we knew

The glory of me and you

In the time when we were one

16. “Breaking Up” by Rainer Maria Rilke 

“She who reconciles the ill-matched threads 

Of her life, and weaves them gratefully 

Into a single cloth

It’s she who drives the loudmouths from the hall 

And clears it for a different celebration.”

17. “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent

to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:

places, and names, and where it was you meant

to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or

next-to-last, of three loved houses went.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,

some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.

I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture

I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident

the art of losing’s not too hard to master

though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

• Short breakup poems

Sometimes, brevity packs the most emotional punch. In this section, we explore concise yet powerful breakup poems that encapsulate the essence of heartbreak, making them perfect for those moments when you need quick solace in the midst of your pain.

These are poems about breakups and moving on, that can help your soul:

18. “A Broken Appointment” by Thomas Hardy

You love not me,
And love alone can lend you loyalty;
–I know and knew it. But, unto the store
Of human deeds divine in all but name,
Was it not worth a little hour or more
To add yet this: Once you, a woman, came
To soothe a time-torn man; even though it be
You love not me?

19. “Separation” by W.S. Merwin

Your absence has gone through me 

Like thread through a needle 

Everything I do is stitched with its color.

20. “How Can I Say Goodbye?” by Oktay Rifat 

How can I say goodbye to all this? 

How can I say farewell?

How can I even begin to live? 

How can I raise my head?

21. “The Loss of Love” by Countee Cullen

All through an empty place I go,

And find her not in any room;

The candles and the lamps I light

Go down before a wind of gloom.

Thick-spraddled lies the dust about,

A fit, sad place to write her name

Or draw her face the way she looked

That legendary night she came.

22. “The Clod and the Pebble” by William Blake

Love seeketh not itself to please,

Nor for itself hath any care,

But for another gives its ease,

And builds a heaven in hell’s despair.

23. “A Dream Within a Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe:

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow —

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

24. “A Stranger” by Lang Leav 

There is a love I reminisce,

Like a seed

I’ve never sown.

Or lips that im yet to kiss,

and eyes

not met my own.

Hands that wrap around my wrists,

and arms

that feel like home.

I wonder how it is I miss,

these things

I’ve never known.

• Sad breakup poems

In the realm of breakup poetry, sadness reigns supreme. These poignant verses encapsulate the profound sorrow, shattered dreams, and tear-stained moments that accompany the end of a love story. 

These poems about breaking up touch upon tales of battered hearts. Prepare to delve into the depths of heartache through these evocative poems.

25. “The Broken Heart” by William Barnes

O break, O break, O break, 

On this cold world my heart can never melt; 

O break, poor heart, and die, for there is none 

That loves you now.

26. “Heart” by Emily Dickenson 

HEART, we will forget him!
You and I, to-night!
You may forget the warmth he gave,
I will forget the light.

When you have done, pray tell me,
That I my thoughts may dim;
Haste! lest while you’re lagging,
I may remember him!”

27. “Ebb” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

 I know what my heart is like

Since your love died:
It is like a hollow ledge
Holding a little pool

Left there by the tide,

A little tepid pool,
Drying inward from the edge.

28. “Heart, We Will Forget Him” by Emily Dickinson 

Heart, we will forget him!

You and I, tonight!

You may forget the warmth he gave,

I will forget the light.

When you have done, pray tell me

That I my thoughts may dim;

Haste! lest while you’re lagging.

I may remember him!

Watch this video to learn more about how long does it take to get over a heartbreak:

29. “A Dream Lies Dead” by Dorothy Parker

A dream lies dead here. May you softly go

Before this place, and turn away your eyes,

Nor seek to know the look of that which dies

Importuning Life for life. Walk not in woe,

But, for a little, let your step be slow.

And, of your mercy, be not sweetly wise

With words of hope and Spring and tenderer skies.

A dream lies dead; and this all mourners know:

Whenever one drifted petal leaves the tree-

Though white of bloom as it had been before

And proudly waitful of fecundity-

One little loveliness can be no more;

And so must Beauty bow her imperfect head

Because a dream has joined the wistful dead!

30. “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines” by Pablo Neruda 

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example,’The night is shattered

and the blue stars shiver in the distance.’

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms

I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me sometimes, and I loved her too.

How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.

And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.

The night is shattered and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.

My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight searches for her as though to go to her.

My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.

We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that’s certain, but how I loved her.

My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another’s. She will be another’s. Like my kisses before.

Her voice. Her bright body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her.

Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms

my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer

and these are the last verses that I write for her.

These verses, among many others, offer glimpses into the pain and beauty that can be found in heartbreak. We hope that as you read through these ‘breakup poems to him and her,’ you’ll find the solace and strength you need to heal and rediscover the resilience within your own heart.

In conclusion

The journey of healing from a breakup is often tumultuous, but these breakup poems offer solace, understanding, and a sense of shared experience. Through the words of poets, we explore the depths of love, the pain of separation, and the process of self-discovery. 

May these verses serve as a reminder that heartbreak is a universal human experience, and with time, couple counseling, self-reflection, and the power of art, we can find healing and embrace new beginnings.