A Parliament Of Fowls – St. Valentine’s Day

“So short our lives, so hard the lessons, so difficult the tests, so sudden the final victory, so tenuous the hope of joy that so easily evaporates into fear – this is what I mean by Love.”

And with these words did Geoffrey Chaucer, 14th Century English Poet best known for his epic series of stories, the Canterbury Tales, begin the one that initiated the concept of associating love with this date. It is a work of 699 lines wherein a female eagle, with the help of Mother Nature, selects her mate from among three male suitors over the course of a year’s time.

https://college.unc.edu/2020/02/chaucer-valentines/

You can find the actual story here, if you are so inclined:

https://reflection.eleusinianm.co.uk/portals/0/pdf/parliament-of-fowls.pdf

Of course, the Bodleian Library in Oxford has a copy available.

Leave it to a poet’s words to create an industry where US consumers are expected to spend 26 Billion on this day.

Chaucer would probably be in the Greeting Card Business if he were alive today.

It really is no surprise that GC is such a man that knew how to capture the heart and imagination. To this day, from the time I attended Cardinal Spellman a half century ago, Chaucer’s The Miller’s Tale, can be credited with teaching me the value of mixing titillating bawdiness and humor in any story, and expanding my literary pallet beyond comic books.

“‘A beard! A beard!’ cried clever Nicholas” Line 634.

Be careful who you kiss in the darkness.

But I digress.

The name Valentine is actually bestowed on a number of Christian Saints, but the one most commonly associated with this date is Valentinus, who, according to Wikipedia, was “a priest of Rome or as the former Bishop of Terni, an important town of Umbria, in central Italy. While under house arrest of Judge Asterius, and discussing his faith with him, Valentinus (the Latin version of his name) was discussing the validity of Jesus. The judge put Valentinus to the test and brought to him the judge’s adopted blind daughter. If Valentinus succeeded in restoring the girl’s sight, Asterius would do whatever he asked. Valentinus, praying to God, laid his hands on her eyes and the child’s vision was restored.

Immediately humbled, the judge asked Valentinus what he should do. Valentinus replied that all of the idols around the judge’s house should be broken, and that the judge should fast for three days and then undergo the Christian sacrament of baptism. The judge obeyed and, as a result of his fasting and prayer, freed all the Christian inmates under his authority. The judge, his family, and his forty-four member household of adult family members and servants were baptised.

Valentinus was later arrested again for continuing to evangelise. He was sent to the prefect of Rome, to the emperor Claudius Gothicus (Claudius II) himself. Claudius took a liking to him until Valentinus tried to convince Claudius to embrace Christianity. Claudius refused and condemned Valentinus to death, commanding that Valentinus either renounce his faith or he would be beaten with clubs and beheaded. Valentinus refused and was executed outside the Flaminian Gate on February 14, 269.

An embellishment to this account states that before his execution, Saint Valentine wrote a note to Asterius’s daughter signed ‘from your Valentine’, which is said to have ‘inspired today’s romantic missives’.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Valentine

When it comes to martyrs, no good deed goes unpunished.

Well the modern day ritual of exchanging flowers and candy with your love interests began in earnest in 18th Century England.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day

So here we are, centuries later, trapped in the annual ritual.

To be honest, I’ve never been a fan. Don’t get me a wrong, I am a true romantic at heart. But I have found that this holiday creates performance anxiety in most men. I mean, how do you follow an act where the guy jots down a love note just before being beheaded. It’s just too much for the average Joe.

Instead, maybe I’ll take a page from GC and . . .

Commemorate love in a simpler way.

Forty seven years trumps a single day.

The clever Eros will seek more than a bed

Will ignore the siren’s song, not lose his head.

For true happiness awaits the bard in whose home

Lives the patient goddess who conjures this poem.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Lisa. You still got it. Love you.

Well, it’s hump day, so you fine, five readers better get your skates on.

But if you happen to pass a florist on the way down the hill, on your way back home, stop and grab a single rose to let your better half know that you are not dead.

It really is the thought that counts.

Now I need to go cuddle some kitties and make my rounds.

Let us all do our best to make today a great one.

And who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky.