CONTENTS
Introduction
I. Who Was Saint Valentine ?
II. The History of Saint Valentine'sDay
III. Valentine Traditions
IV.Early ValentineCustoms
V. Valentine Symbols:
5.1 Cupid
5.2 Heartsand Arrows
5.3 Lovebirds
5.4 Valentine’sCards
5.5 Roses
5.6 Daisies,Violets and Bachelor Buttons
5.7 Say ItWith Flowers...
5.8 Sweetheart,Sugar Pie, Honey etc.
5.9 Chocolate
5.10 LoveKnots
5.11 PaperHands
5.12 ValentineLace
VI.Saint Valentine’s Poems
Introduction
St.Valentine’s day is the holiday of all the sweethearts.
It’scelebrated on February 14 all around the world. It is the traditional day on whichlovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine’s cards,different presents, sweets, flowers, or offering confectionary.
Ever since St.Valentine died on February 14, 269 AD, people have been giving their loved onesValentines and roses and other things to show their feelings toward them. Theydo that because of what Valentine did. Some people believe that when Valentinedied, he left a note to the jail keeper's daughter which was signed, «YourValentine.» People have been doing that since then-- once they knew thatSt. Valentine had done it.
I. WhoWas Saint Valentine?
St. Valentinewas a great Christian who worked as a priest and a noble man. When St.Valentine was alive, the Roman Emperor, Claudius II, would arrest theChristians. If the Christians didn't change their religion, they would eitherbe crucified, thrown to lions, or beheaded. One legend says that St. Valentinewould visit the jail every day to taIk and to pray with the prisoners to helpthem to get out safely.
After a periodof time, the jail keepers got suspicious and asked him a few questions. That iswhen they found out that St. Valentine was a Christian soo they threw him inprison where he stayed without changing his religion. Finally he was beheadedon February 14, 269 A.D. After St Valentine's death, a church was named afterhim, which was a hiding place under his grave for Christians, and a public citygate, Porta Valetini (now called Porta del Popolo), was also named after him.
II. The History of Saint Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. Inancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Junowas the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. TheRomans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. Thefollowing day, February 15th, began the Feast ofLupercalia.
The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However,one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. Onthe eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written onslips of paper and placed into jars. Eachyoung man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners forthe duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimesthe pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fallin love and would later marry.
Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloodyand unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having adifficult time getting soldiers to join his militaryleagues. He believed that the reason was thatroman men did not want to leave their loves or families. Asa result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. Thegood Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the daysof Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christianmartyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentinewas apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to bebeaten to death with clubs and to have his head cutoff. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day ofFebruary, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome,a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February theLupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. Onthese occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young womenwere placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.
The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do awaywith the pagan element in these feasts bysubstituting the names of saints for those of maidens. Andas the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear tohave chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feaSt. So itseems that the custom of young men choosing maidensfor valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.
III. Valentine Traditions
1. Hundreds ofyears ago in England, many children dressed up as adults on Valentine's Day.They went singing from home to home. One verse they sang was: Good morning toyou, valentine; Curl your locks as I do mine. Two before and three behind. Goodmorning to you, valentine.
2. In Waleswooden love spoons were carved and given as gifts on February14th. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favourite decorations on thespoons. The decoration meant, «You unlock my heart!»
3. In theMiddle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who theirvalentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week.To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people toknow how you are feeling.
4. In somecountries, a young woman may receive a gift of clothing from a youngman. If she keeps the gift, it means she will marry him.
5. Some peopleused to believe that if a woman saw a robin flying overhead on Valentine's Day,it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and bevery happy. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire.
6. A love seatis a wide chair. It was first made to seat one woman and her widedress. Later, the love seat or courting seat had two sections, often in anS-shape. In this way, a couple could sit together – but not too closely!
7. Think offive or six names of boys or girls you might marry, As you twist the stem of anapple, recite the names until the stem comes off. You will marry the personwhose name you were saying when the stem fell off.
8. Pick adandelion that has gone to seed. Take a deep breath and blow the seeds into thewind. Count the seeds that remain on the stem. That is the number of childrenyou will have.
9. If you cutan apple in half and count how many seeds are inside, you will also know howmany children you will have.
IV. Early Valentine Customs
People in England probably celebrated Valentine's Day asearly as the 1400's. Some historians trace the custom of sending verses onValentine's Day to a Frenchman named Charles, Duke of Orleans. Charles wascaptured by the English during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. He was taken toEngland and put in prison. On Valentine's Day, he sent his wife a rhymed loveletter from his cell in the Tower of London.
Many Valentine's Day customs involved ways that singlewomen could learn who their future husbands would be. Englishwomen of the1700's wrote men's names on scraps of paper, rolled each in a little piece ofclay, and dropped them all into water. The first paper that rose to the surfacesupposedly had the name of a woman's true love.
Also in the 1700's, unmarried women pinned five bay leavesto their pillows on the eve of Valentine's Day. They pinned one leaf to thecenter of the pillow and one to each corner. If the charm worked, they sawtheir future husbands in their dreams.
In Derbyshire, a county in central England, young womencircled the church 3 or 12 times at midnight and repeated such verses as:
I sow hempseed. Hempseed I sow. He that loves me best, Comeafter me now.
Their true loves then supposedly appeared.
One of the oldest customs was the practice of writing women'snames on slips of paper and drawing them from a jar. The woman whose name wasdrawn by a man became his valentine, and he paid special attention to her. Manymen gave gifts to their valentines. In some areas, a young man gave hisvalentine a pair of gloves. Wealthy men gave fancy balls to honor theirvalentines.
One description of Valentine's Day during the 1700's tellshow groups of friends met to draw names. For several days, each man wore hisvalentine's name on his sleeve. The saying wearing his heart on his sleeveprobably came from this practice.
The custom of sending romantic messages gradually replacedthat of giving gifts. In the 1700's and 1800's, many stores sold handbookscalled valentine writers. These books included verses to copy and varioussuggestions about writing valentines.
Commercial valentines were first made in the early 1800's.Many of them were blank inside, with space for the sender to write a message.The British artist Kate Greenaway became famous for her valentines in the late1800's. Many of her cards featured charming pictures of happy children andlovely gardens.
Esther A. Howland, of Worcester, Massachusetts, became oneof the first U.S. manufacturers of valentines. In 1847, after seeing a Britishvalentine, she decided to make some of her own. She made samples and tookorders from stores. Then she hired a staff of young women and set up anassembly line to produce the cards. One woman glued on paper flowers, anotheradded lace, and another painted leaves. Howland soon expanded her business intoa $100,000-a-year enterprise.
Many valentines of the 1800's were hand painted. Somefeatured a fat cupid or showed arrows piercing a heart. Many cards had satin,ribbon, or lace trim. Others were decorated with dried flowers, feathers,imitation jewels, mother-of-pearl, sea shells, or tassels. Some cards cost asmuch as $10.
From the mid-1800's to the early 1900's, many people sentcomic valentines called penny dreadfuls. These cards sold for a penny andfeatured such insulting verses as:
'Tis all in vain your simperinglooks, You never can incline, With all your bustles, stays, and curls, To finda valentine.
Many penny dreadfuls and other old valentines havebecome collectors' items.
Valentine, Saint, is the name associated with twomartyrs of the early Christian church. Little is known about them. The Romanhistory of martyrs lists two Saint Valentines as having been martyred onFebruary 14 by being beheaded. One supposedly died in Rome and the other atInteramna, now Terni, 60 miles (97 kilometers) from Rome. Scholars have hadgreat difficulty in finding historical fact among the Saint Valentine legends.
The Saint Valentine who died in Rome seems to have been apriest who suffered death during the persecution of Claudius the Goth aboutA.D. 269. A basilica was built in his honor in Rome in A.D. 350, and a catacombcontaining his remains was found on this location.
Another history of martyrs mentions a Saint Valentine whowas bishop of Interamna and who may have been martyred in Rome. By beingremembered both in Rome and in Interamna, he may have come to be considered astwo people, but this is not entirely certain.
The custom of exchanging valentines on February 14 can betraced to the English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer. He mentioned that birds began topair off on that day."
V. Valentine Symbols
5.1. Cupid
Cupid is theRoman God of Love and the most popular symbol for Valentne's Day. Originally hewas shown as a young man with a bow and arrows. But over the years, Cupid wentfrom a handsome man to a pudgey baby? The reason is that the Romans had Cupidas the son of Venus (Goddess of Love and Beauty) and a symbol for passion,playful and tender love.
His arrowswere invisible and his victims (which could also include other Gods btw as wellas humans) would not be aware that they were shot until they fell in love. But,the Victorian era want to help make Valentine's Day more proper for women andchildren. So they tossed out this handsome Roman Adonis guy and made cupid moreof a chubby baby. In other words, it's all on how you want to spin the storyfrom PG-rated to R-Rated!
5.2 Hearts and Arrows
Aheart (red or pink) with an arrow piercing through it is the most common shapeand look for a Valentines, and even candles, candies, cookies, cakes,figurines, stuffed images, etc. The heart is a symbol both of love and alsovulnerability.
Whenyou send someone a Valentine, you take a risk of being rejected and yourfeelings hurt. So a piercing arrow is a symbol of death and the vulnerabilityof love. On the other hand, the heart and arrow also symbolize the merging ofthe male and female as one. In the 12th century, physicians believed that theheart was the seat of love and affection in the human body. But the actualbiologicial shape of the human heart does not look like the heart as we see ittoday. Why? Well, some people are guessing (and it is funny!) that theValentine heart-shape as we know it today was done by a doodler to representthe human female buttocks or a female torso with well-endowed breasts or theimprint of lips (wearing lipstick) made upon a piece of paper. Once again, it'sall on how you want to spin the story!
5.3 Lovebirds
AsI mentioned above, it was believed that birds chose their mates on February 14.And so the dove was chosen to be the bird representative because it was sacredto the Roman Goddess Venus because it chose a lifelong mate. They also make acooing sound, which further proved they were the love couple. The dove was alsoa sacred bird to the Goddess, Venus (and other Love Deities). And Noah hadconsidered the dove to be his messanger. In the Song of Solomon, the word«Turtle» is really referring to the «turtledove.» Theturtledove is common in Asia and Europe, but it is not found in N. America atall. Since all doves are part of the pigeon family, they mate for life, and themale and female both share in the caring of their young. Their bcooing soundsare often considered «love sounds» and today it is often said thatwhen people in love talk rather sugary and baby-like it is «cooing»with each other.
Dovesuperstitions are that they were magical and were often used to divine thefuture. The heart of a dove was often an ingredient in love potions. If you sawa white dove fly overhead it was suppose to be good luck. If you dreamt of adove it was a sign that you had a promise of happiness. And, if you saw thefirst dove in Springtime, made a wish, that wish would come true (much likewishing upon a falling star.)
Butduring the years, love birds have changed from Doves to hummingbirds to birdsof paradises. Today, love birds depcited on Valentines are tiny parrotsbrilliant in color because genetically they really are in the parrot family.They often act like young lovers also. How? They are known for living in pairsand keeping to themselves, much like young lovers want their privacy today. Aspets they are considered loveable, easy to tame and respond to affection. Somecan even be taught to speak.
Thebad side of lovebirds is that they can carry a disease harmful to humans. Andso, there are strict rules regarding importing them into the United States.
5.4 Valentine’s Cards
Thecustom of exchanging love notes goes back to the Roman Lupercalia festival withthe names being drawn. But the British were the ones who popularized sendingyour feelings to someone via a printed card. The first Valentine card wascreated by Chrles, Duke of Orleans, imprisoned in the tower of London forseveral years following the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. he sent Valentinepoems to his wife in France from his jail cell. Commercial Valentines didn'tapepar until 1800 (In England) and although handmade cards had been around foryears. Inthe 19th century a new kind of Valentine emerged called «pennydreadfuls» that were insulting and cruel rather than loving andflattering. They were mostly sent annonymously too.
InAmerica, hand-made Valentines appeared around 1740 and were sealed with red waxand left secretly on a lover's doorstep (or sent in the mail). Commerical cardsfor the most part took over around 1880's. But people still (and will always)make homemade ones too. Some included trinkets, some locks of hair and in somecases there were checks that were drawn against «The Bank of Love»and valentines printed to look like money. One was so realistic to a 5 poundnote it was quickly recalled!
Valentineverses were romantic, whimsical and critical. As I mentioned above, postage wasexpensive. And during the English Victorian times the custom was that therecipient paid for the mail they got (not the sender as we do it today). So youcan imagine what a double insult it was to pay for a Valentine only to open itup and discover it is critical aka «Vinegar Valentine.
WalterCrane and Kate Greenaway were famous children's book illustrators of theirtime. At the age of 22, Kate sold her first Valentine design for $15. Withinweeks, over 25,000 copies were sold. For a few years after, she kept designingValentines, but was never paid a penny more. Today, Kate Greenaway Valentine'sare considered collectable items, as well as those designed by Walter Crane.
WhenValentine Cards got to America, they also got more creative. The first known tocome to the US is a note written by John Winthrop in 1629 to his wife beforeleaving England for the New World. It ended with „My sweet wife, Thou mustbe my valentine for none hat challenged me.“ He later became governor ofMassachusetts Bay Colony.
Valentineswere not only done in delicate pen and ink, but also watercolor and thehandwriting also became a thing of beauty for the card as well, as goodpenmanship was considered a form of art, as well as the quality of a person.
Acrostic Valentines — had verses in which the first letter ofthe lines spelled out the loved one's name.
Example of the name Amanda.
A — Another moment without you isM — more pain than I canbear.A- And no other love will ever beN — nearer to my heart than yours.D — Days pass slowly until we shall meetA -again and our lives forever share.
Cutout Valentines (which most children do in school todayalso) were simply made by folding paper several times and then cutting outsmall areas to make lacelike designs.
Pinprick Valentines were made by pricking tiny paper holeswith a pin or needled into the paper into a lovely design.
Theorem or Poonah Valentines had designs that were paintedthrough a stencil cut in oil paper (style originated in the Orient) with a coatof gum arabic to keep the paint from running.
Rebus Valentines had verses in which tiny pictures took theplace of some of the words.
An example is:
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PuzzleValentines — Had a puzzle to read and refold, in which scattered among theirmany folds were verses that had to be read in a certain order. I remembermaking these in school in which they ended up like a pyramid in which you putyour your index finger and thumb of both hands on both sides and moved thepuzzle valentine North to South and East To West chanting some silly rhymeuntil you stopped and could chose a flap to open and read.
FrakturValentines — had ornamental lettering in the stle of illuminated manuscripts ofthe Middle Ages.
But,Valentines did not always come via paper and lace.
Many sailorswould return from their voyages bringing silk scarves (or other items) to theirwives or girlfriends that had designs of hearts, flowers and other romanticimages or words. And, in return many of the wives or girlfriends of thosesailors (before they took off to sea) made them stronger bundles decorated withloving images and thoughts (and filled with items) to take with them on theirvoyages to think of them.
Andduring the Civil War some of the Valentines were more like paper dolls thatwere actually dressed with cloth (or paper) to try to resemble the personsending it.
And during theRoaring Twenties, some valentines were actually shaped like tomatoes. At thattime, tomatoes only grew in flower gardens and were considered „loveapples.“ (Kinda makes you wonder what they considered ketchup to bethen!).
5.5 Roses
Flowerswere considered love tokens before there even was a St. Valentines. The RomanGod, Bacchus (God of Wine and Joy) and Venus (Goddes of Love and Beauty) bothconsidered the beauty and fragrance of flowers to be tied with romance andlove. But since the time of Solomon, the primary flower linked to romance wasalways the rose. Cleopatra of Egypt covered the floor with roses beforereceiving Mark Anthony.
ARoman myth is that Cupid was carrying a vase of sweet nectar to the gods on Mt.Olympus and spilled it on the ground. From that spot of spilled nectar, rosesgrew!
Butif roses are so symbolic of romance and love, then why the thorns? Well,another story goes like this: The soft west wind named Sephyr one day opened alovely rose and Cupid bent over to kiss the elegant petals. When he did, he wsstung by an irate bee hiding inside. Venus got so angry she told Cupid to shootsome bees and string them up on one of his arrows. She then planted this stringof dead bees on the rose stems, and the stings became the rose's thorns andever since roses had thorns.
The ancient Romansalso believed that anything discussed under a rose (I mean how low can you goto talk?) was considered sub rosa and to be kept secret. Today the Latin termis still used today to express something that is to be kept confidential.
Another Romantheory is that the Rose reminded the Roman Catholic Church of watchingChristians devoured by lions. Later on, the Virgin Mary was called „TheRose of Heaven.“
5.6Daisies, Violets and Bachelor Buttons
There are afew other flowers considered to be romantic also.
The Romansbelieved that the daisy was once a wood nymph. One day, while dancing in afield she was seen by Vertumnus, the God of Spring (who fell in love with herof course). But when he reached for her she got frightened. So, out of pity theother gods let her sink into the earth and she became a daisy.
I do not knowhow the game of holding a daisy and plucking off it's petals saying „Heloves me“ or „He loves me not“ got started.
As far asViolets go....one day it is said that Venus got jealous of a group of beautifulmaidens. And when Cpid refused to say that his mother's beauty was better thantheirs, Venus go furious, so she beat her rivals (these maidens) until theywere blue and she watched them shrink into violets.
In the Scienceof Botany, the cornflower is known as Kyanus, named after a Greek youth who wasborn in a field one day, making garlands of the blue blossoms for the altar ofFlora, Goddess of Flowers. He died, unfortnately, leaving some of the garlandsundone and so this touched Flora's heart and so in his honor she named theflowers after him.
5.7 Say It With Flowers...
This is most commonly known as FTD's slogan today. But whatto say and with what flower? Here are some traditional meanings for some otherflowers often sent for Valentine's Day or other touching moments:
Bleeding Heart = Hopeless, but not heartless.
Gardenia = I love you secretly.
Gladiolus = You pierce my heart.
Lily-of-the-Valley = Let us make up.
Rose — I love you passionately.
Sweet William = You are gallant, suave and perfect.
Violet = I return your love.
Green leaves represented hope in a love affair. (Oftenrumored to be the reason why British girls sprinkled bay leaves with rose waterand put them on their pillows on Valentine's Day Eve. They wanted to see theirloved one in their dreams.)
5.8 Sweetheart, Sugar Pie, Honey etc.
When peopleare in love they just seem to automatically develop this type of dialogue. Butwhy? We often refer to someone we care about as sweetheart or honey. Researchershave found that when we fall in love, a chemical called phenylethylamine orphenylalanine is produced.
This drug isresponsible for that erratic, psychotic love high that we all feel. Whenphenylethylamine or phenylalanine is flowing through our veins it's as if weare on amphetamines. We can stay up all night and work all day the next day. Anda pheromone called androstenol is also released, which heightens our sexualattractions. Thus, we also end up producing what is called a sweet taste in ourmouths and we start spouting off phrases like „luscious“ and»sweet" and «honey» and other things that we like such as«muffin» or «cupcake» or«pudding.»
However, thereis nothing as bad as love gone wrong! And so then we suddenly start spoutingoff words that have to do with being disgusted, depressed, angry, bitter etc. Theseare like, «a sour taste in my mouth» or «foul mood» or evenbeing a little «stinker.»
5.9 Chocolate
Believe it ornot, chocolate contains the same chemical mentioned above calledphenylethylamine or phenylaline that is produced in our brains when falling inlove, and that gives the same emotional high related to amphetamines.
Manypsychologist feel that chocolate is an instant «love booster» and anautomatic sweet taste in our mouths. And with some people, both chocolate andlove can be addictive.
Anyway, theidea of giving chocolate to someone we care about is a way to stir up the sameemotions in them (only artificially if they don't really feel the same wayemotionally back) as well. As with all drugs, the phenylethylamine will wearoff if it's not produced due to real emotions. Some also say that «sweetsfor my sweet» is a pun for giving any candy to someone you care about.
5.10 Love Knots
It has nobeginning and no end and consists of graceful loops (sometimes forming hearts)in which messages of love are either attached and knotted in (or written on theribbon or rope) and read by turning the knot around and around. And, if youcouldn't make a real love knot, then many Valentines included a design ofone.
A young manoften hung this love knot on his true love's doorknob, slipping a letter underalso. (Some feel this began with the sailors since many were skilled at makingfishnets and so doing knots or macrame were their skill. Others say it is aceltic custom and design. While others say it is Scandinavian.)
5.11 Paper Hands
By the 19th Century another symbol of love became the paperhand. It was considered a symbol of courtship because of the custom of a man«asking for a lady's hand» in marriage. And eventually tiny papergloves became a valentine card symbol as well....evolving into gloves (esp.silk) becoming a popular gift to for a man to give his sweetheart. Eventually,a woman sort of expected a pair of good gloves as a gift (in she was in certainsocial circles). Eventually (I guess it depended on how well you knew thewoman?) a man would also give shoestrings, silk stockings, garters and jewleryto his sweetheart for Valentines.
5.12 Valentine Lace
ExpensiveValentines today have real lace, perhaps gold charms, real flowers (or dried)and even made with red velvet and not paper. For thousands of years, certain«pretty things» have often been associated with romance. In the daysof olde, knights often rode into battle with his lady love's scarf or ribbontied somewhere on him. Lace, because of it's delicate nature, has come torepresent something lovely to look at and thus represent love (because lacereally isn't practical as far as a fabric.) So lace as long as 400 years agobecause a popular trimming for clothing...especially clothing associated withlove = wedding dresses!
Howlace paper got made was purely accidental. Joseph Addenbrooke in 1834 wasworking for a London paper when by accident a file brushed over a sheet ofpaper embossed with a raised design. The high points of this embosseddesign thus got filed off leaving small holes, and giving a lacey look to thepaper.
Thisled into the business of making paper laces and soon others followed — competitively to the point where some of these paper laces are of museumquality today.
VI. Saint Valentine’s Poems
How Do I Love Thee?
Elizabeth Barrett Browning(1806-1861)
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seem to lose
With my lost saints, ---I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! ---and if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
False though She Be to Me and Love
William Congreve (1670-1729)
False though she be to me and love,
I'll ne'er pursue revenge;
For still the charmer I approve,
Though I deplore her change.
In hours of bliss we oft have met;
They could not always last;
And though the present I regret,
I'm grateful for the past.
Love's Secret
William Blake (1757-1827)
Never seek to tell thy love,
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind doth move
Silently, invisibly.
I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart,
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears.
Ah! she did depart!
A Red, Red Rose
Robert Burns (1759-1796)
O, my luve is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my luve is like the melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.
As far art throu, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I,
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.
Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun!
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o'life shall run.
And fare theeweel, my only luve,
And fare theeweel a while!
And I willcome again, my luve,
Tho' it wereten thousand mile!
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
William Woodsworth (1770-1850)
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:
A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
--Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
She lived unknown and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!