my valentine to you

Today, my valentine to you is a selection of a few of my favourite love musings. Happy Valentine's Day.

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since feeling is first...e.e. cummings

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
- the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for each other; then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis
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Love Sonnet XVII...Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were a salt rose, or topaz
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
So I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
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Sonnet 130....William Shakespeare

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

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I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You...Colin Hay

I drink good coffee every morning
Comes from a place that's far away
And when I'm done I feel like talking
Without you here there is less to say

I don't want you thinking I'm unhappy
What is closer to the truth
That if I lived till I was 102
I just don't think I'll ever get over you

I'm no longer moved to drink strong whisky
'Cause I shook the hand of time and I knew
That if I lived till I could no longer climb my stairs
I just don't think I'll ever get over you

Your face it dances and it haunts me
Your laughter's still ringing in my ears
I still find pieces of your presence here
Even after all these years

But I don't want you thinking I don't get asked to dinner
'Cause I'm here to say that I sometimes do
Even though I may soon feel the touch of love
I just don't think I'll ever get over you

If I lived till I was 102
I just don't think I'll ever get over you
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When She Kisses Me...Jonathan Richman

Well, she was born in the winter
When the sun shines so pale.
Whereas I was born in the spring
In case you can't tell
In case you can't tell.
But when she kisses me
That's when the maple tree meets the honey bee.
When she kisses me
When she kisses me.

Now, they don't last long and they're not hot.
And they're not the wettest kisses I ever got.
I open my eyes and where is she? (well, she?)
She still don't know what she does to me
When she kisses me, I still react
My eyes stay closed long after the fact
When she kisses me
When she kisses me.
All right, yeah yeah
Whoa oh yeah yeah
What I say?
When she kisses me
When she kisses me.

Well, I swoon and I lean cause I can't stand erect
She thinks I'm swoonin' just for special effect.
No, I swoon and I linger, so delighted.
When she kisses me I still get so excited
After all this time
And when she kisses me, I feel ecstatic
She thinks that's just me bein' overdramatic
When she kisses me
When she kisses me.
All right, yeah yeah
Whoa oh yeah yeah
What I say?
When she kisses me
When she kisses me.

And, I’m putting this in for a few of you out there who've had some hard years and who I think might appreciate it on this Valentine's Day. Nanci wrote a song for the battle-scarred. But of course she did. She's Nanci, and Nanci is perfect.

More Than A Whisper…Nanci Griffith

Oh, I wish that you would call
We have not spoken since last fall
That smoky conversation's coming home
Do I just read between your lines
Yeah it could be this winter wine
So sweet upon my tongue tonight
It recalls your tender eyes
And I need more than a whisper
So much more than a whisper
It takes more than a whisper
To wake this weary fool
Oh give me more than a whisper
If you're saying I love you
Cuz it's the whispers that I've never understood
And it's snowing up in the northlands
I read your warm words from the plains
While the poets say that I should never
Be thinking of you this way
They say that I misread your lines
Because I've been lonely all my life
And I'd be reaching for some silver
And leave my heart out in the fire
And I need more than a whisper
So much more than a whisper
It takes more than a whisper
To wake this weary fool
Oh give me more than a whisper
If you're saying I love you
Cuz it's the whispers that I've never understood
Well I will drink my winter wine
When I get home I'll change my life
I'll only whisper that I love you
In those smoky bars at night
And though the poets say I'm lonely
There's still this woman here inside
And I've never been a fool
When my heart was on the line
Cuz I need more than a whisper
So much more than a whisper
It takes more than a whisper
To wake this weary fool
Oh give me more than a whisper
If you're saying I love you
Cuz it's the whispers that I've never understood