oh, hi february fourteen

Valentine's Day
has always been a favorite of mine. When I was younger, my parents would leave sweets beside my bed each morning of the fourteenth, usually a small pot of tulips or daffodils, nail polish, teeny tiny stuffed animals, and of course Belgian chocolate.
I remember quite well what I've received over the years. Around the age of eleven, my mother bought me Grease, which I still love to this day because it reminds me of Valentine's Day. Another year, I received delightful red tulips in a painted pot and miniature red teddy bear from my Dad. I still have both prominently displayed in my room. It's the one day of the year that love, or the absence of, is universally acknowledged and certainly longed for. Perhaps that may be an exaggeration, but it's something I've always felt to be the case.




I hate that I'm away from the ones I love, feeling increasingly isolated. I miss my best friend and my family. Spending the weekend in Terezin, a transit camp in northern Moravia and watching Apocalypse Now is clearly not ideal. However, I shall take this time to indulge. Enjoy some of the history of St. Valentine's Day, a few images, and whimsical lyrics by Sappho and Shakespeare.

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. Until 1969, the Catholic Church formally recognized eleven Valentine's Days. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia.

Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna, modern Terni, about AD 197 and is said to have been killed during the persecution of Emperor Aurelien. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome.

three:
without warning
as a whirlwind
swoops on an oak
love shakes my heart.

ten:
at noontime
when the earth is
bright with flaming
heat falling straight down
the cricket sets
up a high-pitched
singing in his wings.

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.

Shakespeare's Ophelia in Hamlet (1600-1601)

love,

lee