A Valentine

photo by Bob Kelly

A Valentine (1860)

I found and old, old, valentine

of my mother’s yesterday;

An age-stained, lacy, lovely thing

That she had put away

Between the covers of a book,

And as I touched it there,

I saw her young and beautiful

The sunlight on her hair,

The love-light in her dark, young eyes

That years could not destroy,

And through the paper lace there walked

My father as a boy.

Somewhere along the heavenly lanes

Today, their eyes ashine,

I think he asks her once again

To be his Valentine.

Grace Noll Crowell

Valentine Tom Swifty: "You make my heart sing," Tom noted.