Valentine Assortment

So who was this Val guy anyway? Turns out he was a priest. A “holiday” related to love is named for a priest?! OK, according to a totally reliable, accurate source (my sarcastic description of Wikipedia), the saint of Saint Valentine’s Day is actually three or more Christian martyrs named Valentine, a common name in back in their day, circa 200 A.D. Martyrs? Love? My cynical side says that makes perfect sense.

Actually the “love” connection seems related to either a February celebration in ancient Rome (circa 400 A.D.) related to fertility or a 14th century Chaucer poem.

And then there’s that English nursery rhyme from the 1700s:

The rose is red, the violet's blue,
The honey's sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou'd be you.

Methinks that’s either a tome about arranged marriage or a fancy ‘Personals’ ad from the days a few hundred years before online dating.

If you know me in real life, you know I’m a romantic at heart, sometime sappy and emotional. Get over it; that’s me and I’m damn proud of my ‘chick flick’ side. A balanced personality is a good thing, right? You also know I’m not feelin’ it much right now, so my inner cynic is an outie today.

Funny thing, though: I wrote two new poems on my poetry blog last night. They’re love poems, in my own quirky style. I haven’t written a poem since June, yet last night I wrote two in about twenty minutes. Read them if you dare.

Anyway, there are many kinds of love and Valentine’s Day is a good day to celebrate all shades of that multi-tasking four-letter word. Some of my closest friends are women and I love them (you if you’re one of ‘em) and wish them/you a Happy Valentine’s Day.