James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.
February 14Grandmother’s Valentine
By Minnia Irving (1865–1940)T
And the snow blew in at the eaves,
When I found a hymn-book, tattered and torn,
And turned its moldering leaves.
And lo! in its yellowing pages lay
Grandmother’s valentine tucked away.
And sweet little Cupids quaint,
The gilt from the hearts was worn away,
And the pink of the roses faint,
And the Cupids’ faces were blurred and dim,
But it marked the place of her favorite hymn.
The ghost of a slender maid,
Like the portrait hung on the parlor wall,
In a gown of flowered brocade,
And ivory laces, as fine as air,
And a diamond star in her powdered hair.
In the country dress of old,
He wore a ring with a ruby set
And a waistcoat flowered with gold,
Ruffled wrists and a ribboned queue,
Silver buckles and coat of blue.
With a tassel of azure tied?”
“A valentine left on my window sill
In the gray of the dawn,” she cried,
“And I love the lover who rode so far
In the deep snows, under the morning star.”
And his lips to her rosy ear:
“Oh, lean thy head to my breast, I pray,
And I’ll tell thee a secret dear!
It was I who rode with the valentine
So fast and so far—and thou art mine!”
Behold! when I looked again,
The squire in the gay blue coat
And the maid with the silken train.
There was nothing there but the shadows tall
And the cobwebs long on the windy wall.
And tenderly laid it down
With the treasure, deep in the cedar chest,
In the folds of a faded gown,
And left it there in the lavender leaves
And ashes of roses, under the eaves.
And how I had vexed him sore.
The dim, dead lovers—they touched my heart,
And so I was cold no more;
For love is the same as long ago,
Grandmother’s valentine told me so.