On That Note Valentine

In the Ninth Symphony

Of the self

When the composer finds

That one lost note

To go out on 

It fades and fades

But then he finds

He's counted wrong

This was just the Eight

Or perhaps the Sixth

What happens to a true musician 

When he loses count

He puts his instrument down 

Stands up and sings

In glory I'm going out 

Overheard Hummingbird Valentine

Something I want to sing

Before we slip away

Gone just like that

Everything left behind

It happens every day 

There's still so little 

We know about 

Our true inner lives

Our sovereign secret selves 

But if you let me I would like

To follow you into the future

Whatever becomes of you

I know it will be grand

I know I will be there 

Overwritten Valentine

What if all this is just a novel

We can't stop reading 

Inescapably autobiographical

But still fiction still romantic

Its writer restricted to a few words

Per day so he has us all

Suspended in his grip

Second-guessing where the plot

Seems to follow more than lead

But who is the pursuer

And who the apercu 

Rushing toward the last page

Which will never come

In subsequent volumes 

St Margaret Painted Valentine

I think Raphael only painted

Mirrors of the human soul

As he could clearly see it

He knew we would need them

When we forgot what it looks like

If you have to give it color

And the slow turn of a face

How the soul sits quietly 

In a field of memories

Surrounded by a dragon

Who brings us knowledge

Of ourselves our power 

Which Margaret has already overcome

And we can clearly see

How it's done 

Just Valentine

There is also the possibility

That nothing will come

Of sitting here in the shade

Listening to birds watching clouds

Like last night's rain

That never came

Still hanging in the air

And yet the stiller I sit

Wanting nothing more

Or less than just to be

I feel a peace come over me

Then I'd surrender everything

If I could just hold your face

For a few moments sitting here 

Among Old Things Valentine

If you're not too lazy

The best place to find

The heart of things

Is in an antique shop

Like the one in the corner

Of your eye on the way home

That museum of something

You might want to take with you

Somehow connected to what's coming

You might even find that sword

You've been so in need of 

The past is tempting

But who wants to live there

Quite a few it turns out 

Great armies of fear are

Ranged against the future 

And here is what is left 

Why We Dream Valentine

What can the night each night

Make of the day each day 

The Cherubim working overtime 

Confidently singing these days

While we sleep in and dream

Floating in the endlessness out there

And wake to find ourselves

Still here a mere microcosm

But of some other origin

Trying to fit love in

With what we take

Our secret agenda

Not to be loved

But to know we are loved

By someone out there

Great and beautiful 

Say Them With Me Valentine

How much karma is incurred

If you never speak the words

I love you if you hold them in

Or never get to hear them

Which I think accounts

For all the sins in the world

Or at least those not

Purely philosophical 

Like one's understanding

Of the words themselves

And to what and to whom

They can be entrusted

Even if never returned 

Still love must freely

Give itself away

I Keep Going Back Valentine

Remember where watercress spread

Along the passing stream 

And trillium filled the woods in spring

After all that preparation

You were born unfolding

Like a rose that could laugh

And scream this miraculous

Birth of all things 

To be held and cherished 

The rest was up to you

To follow your heart's rhythm

To know a rose

When you see one

To know you are one yourself 

Getting Through Valentine

I called the Lord today

As I sometimes do

But got another busy signal

You are the 38th million caller

In the queue press two

If you want us to call you back

Or press three if you can

Handle it yourself

And let the Lord get on

With more important things

For which the Lord

Does thank you every day

And bless you for calling

Your message was recorded

Have a good day 

Turning Valentine

Maybe not today

Will our forgiveness come

Neptune turning retrograde and all 

But it is coming rest assured

The stars keep their promises

Coming and going driving us on

But even they grow weary

Leaving us alone at times

To savor our grief 

Or stopping by to weep with us 

For a while and see

What we've understood so far

That merits their forgiveness

But maybe not today 

For A Moment Valentine

Is the East too full of itself

Still stuck on Buddha

And an exportable uniformity

Is the West still hung up

On its own corporeality

Having to face death 

And here between in the hills

Where Christ walked

Endless wars continue

Over the holiest lands

Let us not acclimate too quickly

To the irony of it all

And even for a moment forget

He is here he has

Overcome the world

If you want it 

The Right Answers Valentine

Where does strength come from

In the face of the world's

Devilish plans for us

Do little creeks of courage

Still run in our veins

Does spring still live

In our wintry hearts

If you can answer these questions 

You will be promoted

To the next higher level

You will be given a star

A new kind of astronomer

If you answered yes to all three

You will go far almost there 

Independence Valentine

How precarious can it get

We roll right up to the edge

Of the abyss turning our backs

To take another selfie

But I remember you hiked

All the way to the bottom

Of the world and slept there

Watching the rushing stars

You saw it was a Ferris Wheel

Loading and unloading

I can only imagine how

You made it back up again 

Just to show yourself you could

If you wanted to

Overcome this world

If you had what it would take 

 

Morning Prayer Valentine

O You Mothers and Fathers

In the heavens so near so far 

I come to plead with you today

To not let us bury ourselves

So blindly in this beautiful world

We cannot see you in it

I know you see we are

Still ignorant children here

Refusing to see what's there

Right in front of us

You present in all things

Building your likeness into the world

Year after year be merciful

I beg in my friend's name

Amen 

Waiting Valentine

Where does even the idea

Of a soul come from anyway

We have to imagine it

From many different angles 

The whole thing doesn't

Hang together without

It comes to the question

What will you do with yours

To what will you give it

For whom will you live it

While waiting at the door

Between the worlds 

Of a whole new connection

With the circling stars