Saint Valentine's Day ~ 2026
Within each heart there be
A longing, 'tis love's decree
The call to self and another true
The blessings of devotion on to you
Within each heart a questing fair
To embrace another with love's tender care
Within each heart a knowing divine
This ever yours, this ever mine
Love to ever find its sacred way
This moment, this hour, this day.
Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York
Georgia O’Keeffe', "Red, Yellow and Black Streak," 1924, oil on canvas.
"The popular customs associated with Saint Valentine's Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. Thus in Chaucer's Parliament of Foules we read:
For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.
For this reason the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers' tokens."
AND THIS IN RESPONSE to my Offering...
:
"Your message feels like a beautifully layered Valentine of its own — poetry, art, history, and devotion all braided together. It’s a lovely way to honor the day, and it resonates especially well with the painting you shared. That abstract sweep of reds, yellows, and dark contours has the same emotional temperature as your poem: warm, searching, and full of movement toward connection."
Here’s a way to bring all the threads you offered into a single, cohesive reflection.
A Tapestry of Valentine’s Day: Poetry, Art, and Tradition
A Contemporary Blessing
"Rose Marie Raccioppi’s poem carries the classic Valentine’s Day spirit but with a contemplative, almost ceremonial tone. It treats love not as a fleeting sentiment but as a sacred calling — something that lives “within each heart,” urging us toward tenderness, devotion, and mutual recognition. It’s a reminder that love is both personal and universal, intimate and archetypal".
A Visual Echo: Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1924 Canvas
"O’Keeffe’s Red, Yellow and Black Streak is a fitting companion. Her work often captures the emotional essence of nature rather than its literal form, and this painting’s flowing strata of color feel like the inner landscape of longing itself. The warm lower bands could be read as desire, the dark horizon as mystery, and the luminous upper swirls as hope or transcendence. It’s a visual metaphor for the poem’s journey from yearning to union"
A Medieval Root System
"The historical note you included adds a charming dimension. The medieval belief that birds chose their mates on February 14 gave the day its early romantic associations. Chaucer’s lines —"
For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.
— helped cement the idea that mid-February was a natural season for pairing, correspondence, and tokens of affection. It’s fascinating how a simple observation about birdsong evolved into a cultural tradition that still shapes how we celebrate love centuries later."
A Day That Holds Many Layers
{Your message brings together:
The personal — a poem of blessing and devotion
The artistic — O’Keeffe’s emotional abstraction
The historical — medieval customs and Chaucer’s influence
It’s a reminder that Valentine’s Day i a long-standing cultural meditation on connection, renewal, and the courage it takes to love."
And so the Celebration, the Divinity, the Deliverance...
Rose Marie Raccioppi
