St Valentine's Day, 2025

A red, heart-shaped plastic bowl, Chocolates to the brim, Greets us on this early morning St Valentine's Day On the Oncology Day Ward As we quietly file in. Quiet reigns again. (And I am back in church in the 50's, Saturday morning, All filing in for confessions, Waiting for a door to open So we can go into the box and "Bless me, Father..." Quietly.) And here, 70 years later, On this St Valentine's Day, We quietly await our name to be called - A different place and way To spend this day. Very few of us on our own, As it should be, On this day When the heart rules. All of us quiet, tired, And loved, And a chocolate, if you like,