TRUE LOVE TUESDAY: COUNT DOWN TO VALENTINE'S DAY AND LOVE & PASSION POEM #12

I am waiting for my Sister-friends to arrive for our Tuesday luncheon. I have time to post today in between their arrival because it is not my turn to cook. I love and need these Tuesdays. They get me through the rest of the week with gusto. I love to entertain, I love company and I love well prepared food. It is a little slice of decadence that we all relish.

As I stated at the begining of February, I love Valentine's Day. I love the notion of a day committed to all things love. Yes, I know every day ought to be filled with love and it is, but February 14th, well, that is the capstone for all things love. I am a hopeless romantic. I own it. I am shameless in my faith in love and happiness. I have seen too much, experienced too much and have decided that love and happiness suits me. I am not some silly empty headed school girl. I am standing in the Grown Woman Space with my heart on my sleeve. I do not want to be cautious and afraid of love. I do not want to be shy or guarded. I want to be falling down drunk with love. I have known what its like to be without love and I can't go back to that...EVER! So this is my favorite time of the year. I am thinking about what I want to do in celebration and getting my home in order to welcome in the love of the day. It will start with lots and lots and lots of flowers. The doorbell will start ringing tomorrow with deliveries from good friends and old loves from around the globe. My friends always race to send me flowers because they know that my pleasures are simple; cut flowers bring me joy. And they know that last year was tough and they want to send their love. The cards have already begun arriving from far and wide. I mail out mine today, or perhaps tomorrow if I can't get by this damned approaching snow storm...but I digress.

So I am counting down the days till February 14th. There will be my favorite bottle of champagne, there will be my favorite dairy-free chocolates, there will be strawberries and Lizz Wright cds. I will have a candle light dinner with my beautiful children and we will recite love poems and dance. Off to bed with them and it will be me and the remains of the day. I will sit in solitude ushering out the wonderful day. I will end the day as I began it...in love. And yes, there is always room for the unexpected surprises and unexpected pleasures.

Henry Dumas
Love Song

Beloved
I have to adore the earth:

The wind must have heard
your voice once.
It echoes and sings like you.

The soil must have tasted
you once.
It is laden with your scent.

The trees honor you
in gold
and blush when you pass.

I know why the north country
is frozen.
It has been trying to preserve
your memory.

I know why the desert
burns with fever.
It has wept too long without you.

On hands and knees,
the ocean begs up the beach,
and falls at your feet.

I have to adore
the mirror of the earth.
You have taught her well
how to be beautiful.