February 13, 2007

And finally: because it is, after all, nearly Valentines Day.

Valentine's Day Poem Redux.

(Written on December 05, 2003; Originally posted by me here, and then again here.)

No more the Lupercalion feast, with all it's pagan rites.
The goats and dogs their flesh may keep, upon fair Palatine.
To purify with magic, and sacrifice to gods,
Virgil’s ode no more compels this fickle, future mob.

Nor can the edict of Claudius II, by order from his throne,
Compel true love to live its life, forever, all alone.
For faithful priest, this Valentine, tho’ not yet made a saint,
Did not obey that wicked man, and thereby sealed his fate.

Thus in two-seventy A.D., while head from body torn,
A jailer’s daughter, the story goes, had blinded eyes reborn.
And for this selfless, noble act, Pope Gelasius, by name,
Decreed, that on the fourteenth day, his honor would remain.

So ‘Patron saint of Lovers’ Valentine himself would be
And this was all accomplished in 496 A.D.
But please observe, ye loving ones, the Duke of New Orleans.
Who, while in jail, first sent his wife a valentine received.

Alas we see our tale usurped by Cupid, as his day.
All men forget what history knows, they're deaf to what she’ll say.
So send your card, your candy too, give lovers a dead plant,
For History true I now have told, and never shall recant.

Posted by Carl at 01:11 AM | TrackBack