20 Inspirational Poems That Will Boost Your Mood
Updated: May 19, 2023
These poems offer a breath of fresh perspective on all aspects of life. Looking for a bit of inspiration? Take a read!
Poems can be little literary journeys to help you escape. Whether you’re reading poems for kids to feel nostalgic, funny poems to take a quick laugh break, love poems to mend your heart—you’ll find what you’re looking for! These short inspirational poems will help light a fire, change your perspective, and give you the hope to move on forward. Need more? Look no further than these inspirational quotes to wake up to each morning.
Ella: Of Infinite Possibilities
Wide-eyed in wonder,
Ella beholds the world.
“How old are you?”
her grandfather asks.
She holds up five fingers.
Ella traces her grandfather’s mosaic of wrinkles,
touching his face with those same five fingers.
Seeing tears form in her dark, dark eyes,
he asks: “Why so sad?”
“Because you are shrinking.”
“But I am not sad,” Grandfather replies.
“Why not?”
“Because you are growing.”
By Jacqueline Seewald
When Is That Golden Moment?
When the scale tells me I’ve not gained a pound
When my glasses or phone or keys have been found,
When the cop pulls me over but spares me the ticket
When my ice cream cone drips and I get to lick it,
When I read the obituaries and don’t know a soul,
When the car just ahead of me pays for my toll,
When my pants can fit without sucking my gut in
When I’m on the dance floor and a man asks to cut in,
When it’s time for a movie and I get to choose it,
When I cut out the coupon and remember to use it.
Everyone understands the worth
Of a big celebration: a marriage, a birth
But moments of joy, too many to mention
Brighten each day, when we just pay attention.
By Eileen Hession
Yupik Wisdom
A Yupik Elder asked me once of an illness he had found
Affecting all the Gussuck folk that he had been around.
“Why do they chase the dollar so? Â What is this strange disease?
Whatever are they striving for? What does it take to please?’
I answered that I did not know the causes nor the cure.
But Affluenza is the name and it’s an ill for sure.
He looked at me with wisdom’s eye and shared his culture’s lore.
“Money’s like fish, when you run out, go out and catch some more.”
He paused and added with a smile, “Too much can lead to strife,
Money’s like fish, you have too much—it spoils, stinks up your life.”
By Paul Berg
Bloom
I want to tell you
about the sunflower I found
on the sidewalk yesterday.
It is wilting and curled and gorgeous
and knows it.
I want to age like that,
never forgetting my own beauty,
never forgetting how to say bloom
By Anna Voelker
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First Fires
When I was little I used to flip to the last page of my chosen library book
first
and read it aloud to myself.
I thought by doing this I would be made privy to some secret information.
I could outsmart the author and figure it all out before he or she intended.
I could win.
Everything was a game.
Nowadays, I avoid the last page as long as possible.
I abandon books all over my apartment.
One lays with its spine cracked open on the arm of my couch
while another curls on the floor under my bed asleep.
I don’t want to get to the end of anything anymore.
I only want beginnings:
First sentences striking like matches on the roof of my mouth.
Igniting like the first fires on earth.
By Dorothy Schultz
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Morning Coffee
Dark dark, swirl in the white,
Mix in the morning,
Fade out the night.
Sugar cream, coffee bean,
Eyes start to blinking,
End the last dream.
Dark dark, swirl in the white
Fresh day brewing
On hot sunlight.
By Amber Lynn Revis
Constellations
My favorite color is navy blue,
the color of a childhood book about stars.
My father read it to me on the couch,
took me outside and showed me
the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper,
and how to find the North Star.
All of this was right in front of our house.
We looked up into the sky until it looked back.
The book said we spin without realizing it.
It told where we are in the Milky Way
but my father and I don’t know how we got here.
Neither of us mentions it.
We do not know how to do the math
on astronomical odds as big as that.
By Fannie Griffin
Communion
The moon dissolves,
A communion wafer
On the tongue of morning.
The sun melts,
Fresh butter spread
On noonday bread.
Evening tips the cup,
Rose, burgundy, and gold.
Refreshment for the soul.
By Fannie Griffin
Opportunity
With doubt and dismay you are smitten
You think there’s no chance for you, son?
Why, the best books haven’t been written
The best race hasn’t been run,
The best score hasn’t been made yet,
The best song hasn’t been sung,
The best tune hasn’t been played yet,
Cheer up, for the world is young!
No chance? Why the world is just eager
For things that you ought to create
Its store of true wealth is still meagre
Its needs are incessant and great,
It yearns for more power and beauty
More laughter and love and romance,
More loyalty, labor and duty,
No chance—why there’s nothing but chance!
For the best verse hasn’t been rhymed yet,
The best house hasn’t been planned,
The highest peak hasn’t been climbed yet,
The mightiest rivers aren’t spanned,
Don’t worry and fret, faint hearted,
The chances have just begun,
For the Best jobs haven’t been started,
The Best work hasn’t been done.
By Berton Braley
I am water
soft enough
to offer life
tough enough
to drown it
away
By Rupi Kaur
No Matter What Happens
I have no expectations
only control of how I want to feel
so no matter what happens
I know I will have a great time
By Shilow
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Dreams
Hold fast to dreamsÂ
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
By Langston Hughes
Less Afraid
And then I realized
that to be
more alive
I had to
be less
afraid
so
I did it…
I lost my
fear
and gained
my whole life.
By Unknown
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Don’t Quit
When times are hard, you might stop for a bit,
But it’s not over until the moment you quit.
On a river’s bridge, failures are the planks;
Take one step at a time until you reach its banks.
Don’t give up on your dreams; chase them instead;
You will find, one morning, as you wake up from bed,
That you are the person about whom you dreamed,
And you can reach great heights, impossible though it seemed.
When things go wrong and your back is to the wall,
Try to stand up; no more can you fall.
Life is full of ups and downs; take them in your stride.
You will discover your little star hidden inside.
By M. Tarun Prasad
Today’s Walk
I will walk slowly through this day;
I leave what is not needed behind from yesterday.
I will treasure all the knowledge to move forward.
What I do today will not change or erase the past..
I move on knowing that today I will do differently than before.
If I fail, there will be another tomorrow and a future tomorrow for hope.
By Kathy Russell
Unique
Because I know who I am,
I’m at ease and free.
I can’t be like others,
And they can’t be me.
I’ve got fading scars,
An unusual physique,
But it all works together
To make me unique.
I’ve got hidden strengths,
Some obvious flaws.
Still I am who I am,
For better, for worse.
I don’t have to blend in;
I won’t live a lie.
I can’t please everyone;
I won’t even try.
Some call me proud;
Others stare at me in alarm.
But I’m not one to bother,
Because I know who I am
By Abimbola T. Alabi
Dance
Open your heart to happiness.
Let every pore absorb light.
Swim in the joy of the here and now,
And cast off the darkness of night.
Walk in the summer of sunshine.
Fly in the blueness of sky.
Know possibilities are boundless.
Understand that nothing can die.
Step from the shadows of torment.
Sing ’til your throat gets too sore.
Smile for as long as the day is,
And laugh just a little bit more.
Breathe slowly and deeply and listen.
Give all your ideas a chance.
Let the sun beat down on your goodness,
And kick off your shoes and dance.
By Paul Hayward
Looking For Happiness
Many people are looking for
Happiness behind any door
Happiness they want to find
Happiness of any kind.
Happiness is not something outside
It is an attitude you can provide
Your happiness is not down the road
And, it doesn’t mean an easy load.
Happiness is found in you
How you look at life and what you do
You decide each day, you see
How happy you will be
By Catherine Pulsifer
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The Miracle of Morning
For it’s our grief that gives us our gratitude,
Shows us how to find hope, if we ever lose it.
So ensure that this ache wasn’t endured in vain:
Do not ignore the pain. Give it purpose. Use it.
Read children’s books, dance alone to DJ music.
Know that this distance will make our hearts grow fonder.
From a wave of woes our world will emerge stronger.
By Amanda Gorman
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Little Things
Simple things are the little things
Such happiness they can bring
From watching a sunrise
To giving a child a simple surprise.
If we stop and look and see
How simple things in life can be
The best and happiest times
During our life journey climb.
By Catherine Pulsifer
