A Public Valentine

I am in the US on business this week. While away from home I submit this public valentine to my wife.

This poem is a recent revision of one which has existed on my poetry page since the beginning. Go here to read more of my poems, or look on the drop down menu under ABOUT US -> OUR FAMILY -> ABOUT MATT -> ORIGINAL POETRY.

A Greek Lover

For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:8, KJV)

To my fiance Marla Tolly, Valentines Day 1986

The Greeks don’t love with all their heart;
They use a different body part;
They love with liver, kidney, spleen.
(To me it sounds a bit obscene.)

But dear, when you’re not here with me,
I understand their misery:
I feel a pain that drives me nuts
Away down deep inside my guts.

Yet even when I have you near,
These symptoms seldom disappear.
Though I’m no Greek, I know ’tis true:
With all my innards, I love you!

by Matthew Hanna

Copyright © 2010 by the author

May be copied for church or personal use. All other rights reserved.

Notes on the revision:

1. I’ve reorganized the poem into paired couplets (doesn’t that sound romantic?).
2. I’ve smoothed the meter in a few places where it was a little rough as I originally wrote it.
3. I’ve changed a few words to make the meaning clearer and more forceful.
4. I’ve fixed the punctuation which was a little hurry-skurry.