A Valentine

TO M. F. AND F. F.

"The Fourteenth Day of February fine: I choose you for my Valentine."

Thus ran the first of the sweet old rhymes On the Lovers'-Day in the old, sweet times: And so, I follow closely along To tell my love in the words of the song.

"Roses are red; violets are blue; Pinks are sweet, and so are you."

Roses are red in my sweetheart's cheeks, Deepening tints whenever one speaks; Violets are blue in the eyes of one; In the eyes of the other smileth the sun; But never were roses half so rare And never were pinks a tithing as fair And never have they in their garden-bed A hundredth part of the fragrance shed,

As my two flowers in their sweet home-frame, Both flowers by nature and one by name. So as sure as the bloom grows on the vine I 'll choose them for my valentine: My sweet-heart one and my sweet-heart two, Both little sweet-hearts sweet and true-- To love and to cherish forever mine: To cherish and love as my valentine.