Absent Valentine

Dearest absent Valentine,

What’s in your heart when love is out of town?

 

Depends how long it lasts,

given love’s condition leaving.

One heart stays,

the other goes;

in between flows

light, heat, hope, desire,

and sometimes trust

broken in the leaving.

 

Maybe what is known of love

is only our opinion shared.

If accepted,

can love returned

be other than

in the giver’s own opinion?

 

Accepting all we’re offered

is sometimes not so easy.

 

Worse

can be demanding more,

before accepting all we’re given.

 

But is a balanced heart

weighed down

with doubt on one scale, desire on the other,

calling trust

the even measure?

 

Hope, I think,

is a mesmerizing candle.

 

Light

is what we’re looking for,

the sparkle

in a vision’s eye.

 

Light

is all around us

as every lover knows.

 

Ever blinded,

love comes near to give

and be accepted.

 

Dearest absent Valentine,

be my transformation.