Photograph by Vanessa Fowler taken in St Leonards this morning – on her birthday. Her caption: “6.08am much calmer after a loud noisy windy wet night. Venus is particularly bright. Still windy just not so much. Mild. A mixed day ahead I reckon.. happy Valentines Day.”

St Valentine day poem

By Brian F Docherty

‘We must love one another or die’ W.H. Auden, ‘September 1, 1939’

St Valentinus knocks

on the door to my heart,
and I do not pause to think
Did he really exist, or were
there three of him, at the

same time, in different places,
perhaps a popular name
in ancient Rome, but just
accept he is here again.

I am ready for love,
ready to accept a new
compañera into my life,
to learn a new dance.

I’m not too old to throw
shapes in private, public,
in the Jenny Lind, anywhere
we might say “Let’s dance.”

If anyone says “ Lucky boy”
I will reply “Yes, I believe so”,
and there will only be Now
for a new Us, this moment

to last as long as possible,
let us walk on together,
on the beach at low tide,
under a red sunset, or full moon.

Brian Docherty is a locally based poet of international repute.
Vanessa Fowler is a well-known ceramicist – and a chronicler of the local skies.

Also in: Poetry