This Year's Valentine

I heard this poem the other day on Writer's Almanac, a feature on one of the area public radio stations.  I've shared it with a few loved ones, with the explanation that no man could honestly promise to do all this, despite his best intentions.  But I can definitely understand the promises here as coming from Jesus, who always keeps his Word.

This Year's Valentine

By Philip Appleman

They could

pump frenzy into air ducts

and rage into reservoirs,

dynamite dams

and drown cities,

cry fire in theaters

as the victims are burning,

but

I will find my way through blackened streets

and kneel down at your side.

They could

jump the median head-on

and obliterate the future,

fit .45's to the hands of kids

and skate them off to school,

flip live butts into tinderbox forests

and hellfire half the heavens,

but

in the rubble of smoking cottages

I will hold you in my arms.

They could

send kidnappers to kindergartens

and pedophiles to playgrounds,

wrap themselves in Old Glory

and gut the Bill of Rights,

pound the door with holy screed

and put an end to reason,

but

I will cut through their curtains of cunning

and find you somewhere in the moonlight.

Whatever they do with their anthrax or chainsaws,

however they strip-search or brainwash or blackmail,

they cannot prevent me from sending you robins,

all of them singing: I'll be there.