Note: February 14 was officially established as St. Valentine’s Day by Pope Gelasius I in 496 in honor of the 3rd century martyr. I asked Susan to marry me on February 14, 1986 on a stormy late morning on the boardwalk in Ventura, CA.
FOURTEEN
on this day, each year coming around,
I am again reminded to say
what should be said every day–
while I instead so often stay
aloof in the dim-lit halls of self,
sweeping the corners, dusting portraits.
this is a day of great importance,
stuck in the middle of cold February,
named in honor of the martyr who gave
up every, every, everything.
and isn’t this what you did for me
on this very day when we were young,
the rain at a slant and the beach in a roar,
when I asked you to be mine for life,
and you, like Saint Valentine before,
embraced the martyrdom of becoming my wife?