Whether you are feeling a little down, or just looking for some bright words, we've put together a list of inspirational poems to boost your spirits. Sharing messages of empowerment and strength, hope and perseverance, and purpose and meaning, these poems offer the support and encouragement we all need every once in a while. And because positivity is always better when shared, feel free to pass along the poems below.
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"i am water
soft enough
to offer life
tough enough
to drown it away"
—pg. 137, milk and honey, by Rupi Kaur
Rupi Kaur's poetry has become a worldwide sensation, translated into 30 languages. Both of her collections, milk and honey and the sun and her flowers, became New York Times bestsellers, and her third collection home body is set to come out November 17.
Read more of Rupi Kaur's poetry, alongside her sketched illustrations in her New York Times bestselling milk and honey.
“Sometimes when I’m lonely,
Don’t know why,
Keep thinkin’ I won’t be lonely
By and by.”
—"Hope," by Langston Hughes
Writing for the people, Langston Hughes' poems spoke of the familiar. Because he was skilled at touching on common experiences, Hughes' poems continue to resonate widely.
Read "Hope" and more from Langston Hughes in Selected Poems of Langston Hughes.
“If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.”
—"If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking," by Emily Dickinson
Though Emily Dickinson's fame grew only after her death, she became one of the most well known American poets, leaving behind many empowering poems.
Find "If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking," and more poetry from Emily Dickinson in Hope Is the Thing with Feathers: Poems of Emily Dickinson.
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“Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”
—"Invictus," by William Ernest Henley
Henley shares a message of self-empowerment, having written "Invictus" from his hospital bed following an amputation after years of struggling with tuberculosis. Read "Invictus" and more than 100 other inspirational poems in the book Invictus.
“You must hold your quiet center,
where you do what only you can do.
If others call you a maniac or a fool,
just let them wag their tongues.
If some praise your perseverance,
don't feel too happy about it—
only solitude is a lasting friend.
You must hold your distant center.
Don't move even if earth and heaven quake.
If others think you are insignificant,
that's because you haven't held on long enough.
As long as you stay put year after year,
eventually you will find a world
beginning to revolve around you.”
—"A Center," by Ha Jin
Ha Jin speaks to the power within each individual. Read more of his poems that convey messages of hope and strength in A Distant Center.
“Before I leave the stage
I will sing the only song
I was meant truly to sing.
It is the song
of I AM.
Yes: I am Me
&
You.
WE ARE.
I love Us with every drop
of our blood
every atom of our cells
our waving particles
-undaunted flags of our Being-
neither here nor there.”
—"Before I Leave The Stage," by Alice Walker
Although she is best known for her National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Color Purple, Alice Walker has long been a renowned poet. An expert in the craft, Alice Walker delivers fresh, compassionate, and wise poems centered around activism in her collection The World Will Follow Joy: Turning Madness into Flowers, which includes the above poem, "Before I Leave The Stage."
“& what if hope crashes through the door what if
that lasts a somersault?
hope for serendipity
even if a series of meals were all between us
even if the aeons lined up out
of order
what are years if not measured by trees”
—"Elegy," by Mong-Lan
Mong-Lan's poems are often both forceful and beautiful. In her own unique style, Mong-Lan writes poems that cut across cultures and history. Find "Elegy" and more poems from Mong-Lan in Why Is the Edge Always Windy?
“Like the horn you played in Catholic school
the city will open its mouth and cry
out. Don't worry 'bout nothing. Don't mean
no thing. It will leave you stunned
as a fighter with his eyes swelled shut
who's told he won the whole damn purse.
It will feel better than any floor
that's risen up to meet you. It will rise
like Easter bread, golden and familiar
in your grandmother's hands. She'll come back,
heaven having been too far from home
to hold her. O it will be beautiful.
Every girl will ask you to dance and the boys
won't kill you for it. Shake your head.
Dance until your bones clatter. What a prize
you are. What a lucky sack of stars.”
—"At Last the New Arriving," by Gabrielle Calvocoressi
Calvocoressi's poem, filled with familiar images of joyous occasions, shares a feeling of optimism and triumph. Read more of her work in Apocalyptic Swing: Poems, which includes the poem above, "At Last the New Arriving."
“My faith
is a great weight
hung on a small wire,
as doth the spider
hang her baby on a thin web,
as doth the vine,
twiggy and wooden,
hold up grapes
like eyeballs,
as many angels
dance on the head of a pin.
God does not need
too much wire to keep Him there,
just a thin vein,
with blood pushing back and forth in it,
and some love.
As it has been said:
Love and a cough
cannot be concealed.
Even a small cough.
Even a small love.
So if you have only a thin wire,
God does not mind.
He will enter your hands
as easily as ten cents used to
bring forth a Coke.”
—"Small Wire," by Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton was known for writing darker poems and sharing her raw experiences with mental illness, much like her friend Sylvia Plath. But Sexton also wrote poems focused on hope and healing that serve as a source of inspiration. Her poem "Small Wire," along with the eight collections she published while alive, two posthumously published collections, and additional poems drawn together following her death, can be found in The Complete Poems.
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“Because we did not have threads
of turquoise, silver, and gold,
we could not sew a sun nor sky.
And our hands became balls of fire.
And our arms spread open like wings.
Because we had no chalk or pastels,
no toad, forest, or morning-grass slats
of paper, we had no colour
for creatures. So we squatted
and sprang, squatted and sprang.
Four young girls, plaits heavy
on our backs, our feet were beating
drums, drawing rhythms from the floor;
our mouths became woodwinds;
our tongues touched teeth and were reeds.”
—"The Art Room," by Shara McCallum
McCallum's words are full of movement and energy. Her poem "The Art Room" appears in Song of Thieves, her second collection of poems, following her collection The Water Between Us.
Featured photo: Brian Garcia / Unsplash
Keep Reading: The 36 Most Famous Poems Ever Written in the English Language
Featured photo via Brian Garcia / Unsplash
