Vintage Poems for Valentine’s Day

ST. VALENTINE’S WISDOM.

Cupid sat near St. Valentine,
He was sorting out his darts,
Repairing his bow and his quiver,
And toying with broken hearts.

Said he to the saint, with weary sigh,
“I’m tired of this fruitless hunt.
From sordid, leathery hearts to-day
My arrows fall dull and blunt.

“Time was when a dart of elder pith
Would pierce to the very core
A common heart, and the tougher ones
It would make exceeding sore.

“Now naught but an arrow tipped with gold
Will reach to a vital part,
And no such thing can be found to-day
As a flaming, burning heart.”

Said the aged saint, “you quite express
The thing that I meant to say,
And we’ve got to use modern methods,
If we’d make the business pay.

“The turtle dove it has quite gone by,
And welded hearts are passe,
But any battered old coronet
Has a cinch to win the day.

“And the very swellest new design
For stealing lovers’ letters,
You would hardly guess! ‘Tis the dollar sign
And a pair of golden fetters.

“Then take advice, if the game you’d bag,
Use only a golden dart,
And draw a bead on the scheming head —
Don’t aim at the shrunken heart.”

–Augustus L. Hunebett?, in Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly.

The Daily Herald (Chicago, Illinois) Feb 9, 1901

A Ballad of the Fourteenth.

Ho! poet, bring a ballad new,
To catch and captivate.
And with a love of love imbue
Some callous Nell or Kate.
What’er your theme, don’t hesitate
Thus to enforce your lay.
For ’tis to help me celebrate
St. Valentine, his day.

Ho! gardener, bring a flower blue,
And real — to indicate
My heart’s unwavering true,
And briskly animate.
And, taking notice of the date —
Blend these in a bouquet
To help me fitly celebrate,
St. Valentine, his day.

Confectioner, I crave of you,
The best you can create
In sweets of pure and crystal dew,
And favors delicate.
Send these packed in a golden crate,
Bedecked with ribbons gay,
To help me fairly celebrate
St. Valentine, his day.

And finally, O. laggard Fate,
Lot me a lass, I pray;
Elsewise, how can I celebrate
St. Valentine, his day?
— Edward Barnard, In Smart Set.

San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) Feb 12, 1905

Tags: 1901, 1905, Poetry, Valentine's Day