I wrote this for my daughter a few years ago, and offer it now to all fathers fortunate enough to have a daughter.
TO A DAUGHTER, ON SAINT VALENTINE’S DAY
The dawning paints the night sky pink
With rose and amber hue
To look at it I have to think
The morning loves you too.
The rising sun climbs in the sky
Too bright for us to view
Another reason I know why
The noontime loves you too.
As sunset draws the curtain low
And sky turns dusk from blue
I ken full well that this I know
The evening loves you too.
And as I trundle off to bed
I think always of you
And count the thousand times I’ve said
Your father loves you too.
—-
This is a valentine to the one you cannot forget after all these years, the one you think about late at night, when all is still, wondering where she is, what she is doing, where would you be had you not said goodbye that fateful day so long, long ago.
TO THE MEMORY OF A YOUTHFUL LOVE
I saw her yet again last night
As radiant as then
With flowing hair and red red lips
And eyes that whispered when
She smiled a smile that stopped my heart
I tried to speak but no
So long it’s been, why did we part?
I whispered please don’t go
Those golden days when we were young
And loved each other so
All gone, for us the song unsung
The why I’ll never know
She smiled again and turned away
I called but she was gone
I lay awake and prayed for day
Just hoping that the dawn
Would find me still in blessed sleep
To dream and dream again
Of flowing hair and red red lips
And eyes that whispered when
—-
The third valentine is an assay into rhyme, how one rhyme word can lead to another, and change completely the tone and meaning of the poem. In the poem above, the end word in line 5, heart, leads to a poem about a long lost youthful love, a dream of regret, and the whispered word when means when will we see each other again. In this poem, the end word in line 5, breath, leads to a completely different loss, a bitter loss, and the word when, spoken to the dreamer, now means when will you join me.
TO THE MEMORY OF A LOVING WIFE, TAKEN MUCH TOO SOON
I saw her yet again last night
As radiant as then
With flowing hair and red red lips
And eyes that whispered when
She smiled a smile that took my breath
I tried to speak but no
I knew that love transcended death
I whispered please don’t go
She smiled again and turned away
I cried but she was gone
I lay awake and prayed for day
Just hoping that the dawn
Would find me still in blessed sleep
To dream and dream again
Of flowing hair and red red lips
And eyes that whispered when