Will You Be My Valentine

Will you be my Valentine?
I know that I am yours.
You are like a tossing sea
And I am like your shores.

You are like an endless wave
And I your waiting sand.
And I will wait forever as
You come and smooth my hand.

I will wait forever, yet
You are a part of me.
I hold you in my arms, while you
Come to me endlessly.

Will you be my Valentine?
I know that I am yours.
I love you with a love that yearns
To be your golden shores.

Valentine's for Lovers and for Friends

Valentine's for lovers and for friends.
All my love goes out to you this day!
Love is something different from desire:
Even, silent, peaceful as the sky.
Nor is love interested in means or ends.
There are no selfish needs that it must weigh.
Instead, love's plenitude itself inspires,
Needing neither cause nor reason why.
Each day my thoughts enchanted with you lie.

Valentine's A Day to Say, "I Love You"

Valentine's a day to say, "I love you,"
A ritual that stages something real,
Letting out the truth of what I feel
Even as I think it often of you.
Nor could I with such grace without this day
Tell you that I'm grateful that I have you,
Impress upon you just how much I need you,
Needing such a frame for what I say
Even as I would my heart reveal.

The Day of Love Requires a Companion

The day of love requires a companion,
But I find myself at this time all alone.
Words of sweet affection fill the morning
Like bells outside the windows of my room.

I don't know why I don't have someone with me.
I've loved and been loved through the restless years.
The mysteries of love I hold within me
Are a darkness unrelieved by moon and stars.

And yet I feel more love than I have ever
Felt within the circle of a kiss.
Love need not be a passion or a fever,
Nor does it need a hand for its caress.

Love does not require a companion.
It doesn't need an object or a home.
It flies above the ecstasy of morning
And fills the universe inside my room.

Some Might Think, Perhaps, that I'm Not Pleased

Some might think, perhaps, that I'm not pleased
At how you've trivialized my name and day.
In fact, I think romantic love's one way
New recruits for paradise are seized.
True, the object is the kind that's squeezed.
Very well! We're flesh, and though we may
Awaken first to lust, at last love's play
Leads us to redemption by degrees.
Each soul must find its way from love to Love,
Needing love, beside itself with need,
Though through pride, reluctant to give in.
In cards and flowers, chocolate hearts, and such,
None but must recite love's gentle creed,
Each proclaiming tenderness within.

One Alone Cannot Make Two

One alone cannot make two,
But two alone can tally three.
If some find sums enough to do,
Some find some their ecstasy.

Yet do not add unless you love,
For greater sums require more,
And though in proof might pleasant prove,
In life might prove a lifelong chore.

Valentines ought best beware
Of multiplying much too soon.
While two might err, far more must bear
What didn't add up one afternoon.

No Love So Strong It Needs No Sign

No love so strong it needs no sign,
Nor feeling deep it needs no light:
So will you be my Valentine?

Love loves the days that loves define,
When words bring souls to silent sight.
No love so strong it needs no sign,

Nor can we our own souls divine
Without the music of delight:
So will you be my Valentine?

And will you let yourself be mine
As I am yours, of need and right?
No love so strong it needs no sign,

Nor is it wrong to draw a line
And need with hungry need requite:
So will you be my Valentine?

For love grows old like sun-drenched wine
That sweetness brings to evenings bright.
No love so strong it needs no sign:
So will you be my Valentine?

My Love Is Both a Hunger and a Giving

My love is both a hunger and a giving,
A need to have and also to bestow,
A lavish lust for flesh and yet a yearning
For beauty as austere as polished stone.

I want more than my life your happiness,
And yet my happiness depends on you.
Like a child I linger in your shadow
While like a parent I take you in my arms.

I want to be the sun to fill your sky
While like a rose I open to your smile.
I want to be the air you breathe, your music,
While like the sand I wait upon your sea.

So like and unlike, my love is doubly bonded,
The joys of giving and receiving joined.
This day of love it is my gift to you,
A heart you can consume yet keep forever.

Love Comes Through the Eyes That See

Love comes through the eyes that see
And through the ears that hear,
For people are quite beautiful,
And words make feelings clear.

Love comes through the hands that touch
With unabashed affection,
For only skin-to-skin can love
Maintain its true direction.

Love comes through the tastes and smells
Of fresh and well-cooked food,
For in the gift of nourishment
Is much else that is good.

But though love comes through senses five,
Love comes from the heart,
For there resides the greater love
Of which ours is a part.

Linda Was Quite Lonely

Linda was quite lonely
On the day of love.
No one cared how well she fared
Or which way she might move.

No one thought her lovely
Or dreamed of her caress,
Or so she thought until she bought
A sexy dark red dress.

That dress had seemed a failure,
Though she had lost some weight.
Some men stared, but no one cared
Enough to make a date.

Her calendar was empty,
As empty as her heart,
When in this hell she heard the bell
And jumped up with a start.

Could it be? Oh, could it?
Here was her salvation!
To her joy a delivery boy
Was holding a carnation.

"Carnation-Gram," the boy said,
And handed her the box.
Who was it from? Perhaps someone
Who thought she was a fox.

All Linda's sadness vanished
As if it never were.
That little flower had the power
To set her heart astir!

And so when Johnny called her
In a little while,
She was primed in heart and mind
To greet him with a smile.

So please remember Linda
When starting a relation:
Her mood reversed when she got first
A single, cheap carnation!

I Wish You Were My Valentine

I wish you were my Valentine
Though I may not be yours,
And I may, in my ignorance,
Be speaking to closed doors.

I have no inkling of your heart,
No hint what you might say;
But when I think of you the sun
Will just not go away.

There is in you a loveliness
That makes my darkness shine,
And so I'll wait, if wait I must,
To be your Valentine.

I Miss You Terribly This Day of Love

I miss you terribly this day of love,
Miss you with a wound that stabs and aches.
I see the love around me, and it takes
So much strength simply just to move.
Soon, soon, my love, this waiting will be done.
You and I will have what we desire.
On days like this we'll sit beside the fire,
Undoing all the pain of days long gone.

I Know I Hardly Know You

I know I hardly know you,
But I think that I may love you.
You can see the way I look at you
And know.

I know you have a girlfriend,
But I think we can be happy,
So take the time to find out
If it's so.

I know we don't have much time,
But I think it's just enough;
If you'd like to take a chance on me,
Let's go!

How Simple to Be Happy Here in Heaven

How simple to be happy here in heaven!
After all, one doesn't want for much.
Passion finds its willing partner, ever
Pleased to please with a deft and tender touch.
Yearning is like walking through a valley
Veiled in the loveliness of flowers.
All the beauty of the earth can only
Lead us to the edge of what is ours.
Etched into our love there is a message,
Not of now but of all time and place,
Telling of a truth beyond the passage
In which we move from mystery to grace.
Nor are there signs that such content can be
Except my love for you, and yours for me.

How Often Do We Linger

How often do we linger in
The vestibule of life,
Not ready to embrace the soul
We've taken for a wife?

Nor bear the dread oblivion
Of being who we are?
Nor render well our willing part
When we are not the star?

Ah, Valentine! This day of love
Behold what you have wrought!
And seek within the love you have
The love you long have sought.

For love loves not illusion,
Demanding what is true:
That underneath your greed and lust
You need her love for you.

How Necessary Is It to Remind

How necessary is it to remind
A loving couple that they are in love?
Perhaps a well-placed word might pierce the rind,
Penetrating hearts that dormant prove.
Years accumulate like fallen snow,
Vast fields of understanding, thick and cold,
As time surrenders even those who know,
Leaving love a story long since told.
Each year, therefore, occasion must be made,
Name-day of love, that lovers all might speak,
Taking a risk that else they might evade,
In search of pleasure even angels seek.
Need comes slowly, like a warm spring rain.
Except one sing, the song must be in vain.

How Much Can One Person Love Another

How much can one person love another?
A universe exists in time and space,
Placed within the boundaries of one place,
Pressed into a point far from forever.
Yet love comes to us from some quite other,
Visiting our sorrow with its grace,
Answering our rage with its embrace,
Lending us the wisdom of its wonder.
Even as I say this, you are there,
Nestling in where need undoes the day,
Taking up your small infinity.
Inside my window, you are everywhere,
Nor could I tell how much such love might weigh,
Even were it salient as the sea.

How Might One Know Love Except by Loving

How might one know love except by loving?
Attraction might be right, but often wrong,
Perhaps because it's short, and life is long,
Perhaps because the proof is in the proving.
Years go by, and one is always moving;
Very little truth can come along.
A week, a month, a year -- and love is strong;
Longer, and the trick is one of choosing.
Enduring love depends on mutual need,
Need acknowledged, open, unashamed
To say, I do not want to be alone.
If one could put aside one's pride and bleed,
No gift or gratitude would go unnamed,
Even as time turned the world to stone.

How Little in Me Is Not Touched by You

How little in me is not touched by you!
A friendship is a light that fills the heart,
Painting with its gold each darkened hue,
Providing warmth to each sequestered part.
You are the mirror of my better self,
Verifier of the best in me,
A bridge across the unsuspected gulf
Lodged between what can and ought to be.
Expectations can be wings, not bars,
Necessary to sustain our flight.
The faith of friends in us is wholly ours,
Incoming to uplift us to its height.
No soul can see itself, but must depend,
Each on each, upon a trusted friend.

Hope Is a Breeze Across an Open Field

Hope is a breeze across an open field.
Anger comes from pounding on a door,
Positive one wants the door to yield.
Perhaps from this one senses something more.
Yearning is a song to wake the dead.
Very few can yearn for what is theirs.
Although love waits half-naked on the bed,
Life can seem a maze of doors and stairs.
Each soul pursues the prey of its desire,
Not knowing that to have must mean to kill.
There is no deed that documents love's fire;
In lovers' hearts, one comes and goes at will.
Need is a wind that strips the landscape bare;
Eventually one turns, and love is there.