At a time when I’d never seen
What chaos love creates in the mind,
I wrote a Valentine’s poem.
Chocolate and flowers won’t do, I announced.
I want a man of substance.
As if I was full of substance, me:
This silly little girl pining over boys
Instead of doing her homework.
Substance, to me, was only words
That came straight from the heart.
Those pretty ripples on the surface of the water
Embodied the essence of everything.
What gems lay on the floor of the sea,
Raw, sunken and hardly visible,
Did not matter in the least.
Today I swim about with flailing arms
Like a lost snorkeler in the deep Caribbean
Reaching out for the slightest glimmer I see.
Diamonds and pearls, please come to me!
I’ll treasure you till eternity.
But alas, it is dust sparkling in the sun
And nothing more. I find I must
Let go of my dream of spotting gleaming
Jewels floating above the ocean floor.
This silly little girl is now pining over dreams
Instead of living a dry reality.
Perhaps a man of substance has no need
In this world full of deceptive discoveries.
Perhaps chocolate and flowers can
Shroud my thoughts in their sweetness,
Just to keep me happy.
And perhaps movies are made cheesy
To reflect our shallow truth,
Wrapped in cellophane and ribbons,
Straight from the nearest Archies Gallery.