Love Unlocked and the poem: Miracle

 Dear reader,

Valentine's Day originated from a blend of ancient Roman, pagan and Christian traditions, evolving from the mid-February fertility festival of Lupercalia into a celebration of romantic love during the Middle Ages.  It is associated with Saint Valentine, a 3rd century martyr, and became linked to romance via literature by the 14th century,

A celebration for the Feast of St. Valentine on February 14th took place in the 14th/15th centuries when notions of courtly love flourished apparently by association with "lovebirds'  of early spring.  In 18th century England, it grew into an occasion for couples to express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards.

In Italy Saint Valentine's keys are given to lovers "as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver's heart". 

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 From Dorothy Wordsworth   February 21st   1802 in Cumberland

'A very wet morning.....Snowdrops quite out, but cold and winterly; yet, for all this, a thrush that lives in our orchard has shouted and sung its merriest all day long.'

 

From John Ruskin  February 21st  1843 in Surrey

'What a lovely thing  bit of fine, sharp, crystallized broken snow is, held up against the blue sky catching the sun - talk of diamonds.'

 

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Miracle

 

 

Rich in England’s spring,

cow parsley entrancing

in dog-rosed hedge,

the fecund earth lush green,

a baby swallow

hatches in a Suffolk barn,

to the cries of gulls

flying over mudflats,

over sea-lavender.

 

This small bird grows

embracing our summer warmth,

swooping on insects caught

above rolling grasslands.

It dips and tumbles gracefully,

trouble free.

 

But what instinct tells of winter’s cold?

This bird, hand-sized, will

fly over icy Pyrenees,

thirst through the parched Sahara,

soar and glide on trade winds,

south to The Cape of Africa

drawn, inexplicably, to the heat

of the southern sun.

 

In early spring does

this swallow’s courageous heart

grow restless, homesick for 

a Suffolk barn?

Is it a miracle that some force

of nature returns this minute bird

to its birth-nest by the English sea?

Who knows, but it seems so to me.

 

 

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Love unlocked

 

 

 

 

What can I say about love

that has not been said?

 

 

I have little to add except

my sweetheart proffered

a unique key

to the door of possibilities,

through loving me.

 

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With very best wishes, Patricia