Featured Poem: A Modest Love by Sir Edward Dyer
Valentine's Day is approaching at the end of this week - if for any reason you're not feeling the love, then it's worth reading this delightful poem by Sir Edward Dyer which - rather charmingly - highlights that there is love in everything if you look closely enough. To get away from the commercialism of the 'holiday' it also leaves us with a heartwarming and true thought at its centre; a sentiment that is worth bearing in mind before you venture to spend your pennies or pounds spoiling your loved one.
A Modest Love
The lowest trees have tops, the ant her gall,
The fly her spleen, the little sparks their heat;
The slender hairs cast shadows, though but small,
And bees have stings, although they be not great;
Seas have their source, and so have shallow springs;
And love is love, in beggars as in kings.
Where rivers smoothest run, deep are the fords;
The dial stirs, yet none perceives it move;
The firmest faith is in the fewest words;
The turtles cannot sing, and yet they love:
True hearts have eyes and ears, no tongues to speak;
They hear and see, and sigh, and then they break.
Sir Edward Dyer
Share
Related Articles
![](https://www.thereader.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/August-SP-750x400.png)
August’s Monthly Stories and Poems
Over the summer, The Reader is running our biggest Shared Reading Awareness campaign in years. See our new video, taking…
![](https://www.thereader.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bookshelf-Storybarn-Selects-Aug-750x400.png)
The Storybarn Selects… From The Reader Bookshelf
The Reader Bookshelf 2024 is here. A carefully curated collection of literature for adults and children, exploring a different theme each year,…
![](https://www.thereader.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/July-Reads-750x320.png)
July’s Monthly Stories and Poems
We are continuing to take inspiration from The Reader Bookshelf for 2024-25 with the theme for July’s Monthly Stories and…