the heart of a tree

the heart of a tree

loves even the lichen heart

tattooed on its bark

On 14 February we celebrate St. Valentine's Day with roses, sweets and greeting cards expressing love, but how many people know that St. Valentine was martyred on this date in 269 A.D.? So how did a martyr become associated with the tradition of exchanging love notes on Valentine's day? According to legend, the Roman Emperor Claudius II passed an edict forbidding single men to marry in order to increase enlistments in his army. The priest Valentine saw this as an injustice and defiantly performed weddings in secret. When this was discovered, he was imprisoned and sentenced to death by beheading. While in prison he fell in love with the daughter of one of the guards, who came to visit him. On the day of his death, he left her a note professing his undying devotion and signed it, "Love from your Valentine." It's a romantic story, but I can't help wondering whether the girl could read.

          St. Valentine is, of course, the patron saint of love, lovers, engaged couples, happy marriages, young people and greetings, but also, not so obviously, bee keepers, travelers, fainting, epilepsy and plague. Well, when a bee pollinates a flower, that's a sort of "love note." Travelers are sometimes looking for romance, or find love in unexpected places. In romance novels women often are depicted as fainting from an excess of emotion, perhaps brought on by a love note, or lack of one. Now, epilepsy and the plague, I don't know, maybe an association between uncontrollable shaking with the pangs of love?

          Whatever the truth of the legend, St. Valentine's Day is a lovely tradition. I wonder what would happen if we extended the practice of expressing love to every day of the year? Perhaps we, like the heart of a tree, would come to love even the lowly lichen.