HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,

And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

Shakespeare

Strange fits of passion have I known

And I will dare to tell,

But in the Lover's ear alone,

What once to me befel.

When she I loved looked every day

Fresh as a rose in June,

I to her cottage bent my way, 

Beneath an evening moon.

Wordsworth

Yesterday, there were snowdrops in bloom in the West End.  If and when I ever have a garden again, I will plant snow drops in and around purple heather (the kind which is now in bloom).  They look spectacular together.  

Valentines Day wouldn't be complete without my favourite stanza by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seem to lose

With my lost saints - I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! - and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.