Valentine’s Day is only two days away. Whether you celebrate it or not, you’ll witness the signs of the season: red roses, chocolates, jewelry, red heart balloons, stuffed animals. We use the day to express our love for others, romantic or otherwise. I used to give little Valentine presents to my children because they were the loves of my daily life. And I loved helping them choose Valentines for their classmates–a fun tradition, and a sweet one.
I’ve received some of the standard gifst from my husband each year. Nowadays we sort of choose one gift that we BOTH want and make it our Valentine to one another. But one of the best ways, the most breath-stopping ways, to impress your loved one is with a truly well-chosen love poem. I’m not advocating writing one (though it would be sweet if you did); instead, I’m suggesting that you choose words that seem to capture what you feel for your beloved. Need some suggestions?
The Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote the famous line “My luve is like a red, red rose.” The title is a simile, and the poem is filled with apt comparisons to his love’s beauty and devotion. He writes:
\My luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
\MY love is like a melody that’s sweetly played in tune . . .”
If you prefer non-rhyming poetry, I’ve always loved e.e. cummings and his unassuming but beautiful love poetry. In his poem, “Somewhere I have never traveled gladly beyond,” he writes–
” .tough I have closed myself like fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
. . . . her first rose”
So many poets wrote powerful words of love. Some that you might want to investigate are Elizabeth Barrett Browning (who wrote the famous sonnet beginning “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways)> Or her husband, Robert Browning, who wrote his own love poetry to his wife. Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dylan THomas,, Philip Larkin, Emily Dickinson, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron (“She walks in beauty, like the night/of cloudless climes and starry skies./and all that’s best of dark and light/meet in her aspect and her eyes.”_
The sonnets of William Shakespeare are always a powerful love gift. One of my favorites is “Let me not to the marriage of true minds/admit impediments::(aka Sonnet 116). There is the lovely poetry of Sarah Teasdale, the wry poetry of Billy Collins, the lyrical splendor of Maya Angelou, the sad but lovely complexities of Robert Forst.
In short, there are thousands of poets who have written beautiful words of love. If you peruse some, you will find a poem that suits the person you are thinking of this Friday. By all means go ahead and give the roses or the chocolates, but add the poem to show how deeply you thought about your gift. Poetry is the language of love, and Friday is the traditional day of love.
My advice is to woo them with words.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
