VALENTINE-ASHES and FLAME

Sunlight woke the window frame

Saint Valentine died for loves gain

We wore ashes in your name

Winter was set aflame

Spring will come again

~*~

(I posted the following on my face book page)

 1,

A VALENTINE

(33 seconds)

https://youtu.be/JySkz5VD6TU

2.

MEDIEVAL ORIGINS

"The association between Saint Valentine’s Day and lovers is the fault of one Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340–1400). In his late 14th-century comic dream-vision, the Parliament of Fowls, he describes a group of birds who gather together in the early spring – on ‘seynt valentynes day’ – to choose their mates for the year. Some scholars have suggested that the poem was written for King Richard II (1367–1400) during the negotiations over his marriage to Anne of Bohemia in 1380. Either way, it seems that the poem sparked (or at least cemented) a tradition. In 1477, Margery Brews, a Norfolk woman, wrote a letter to her cousin John Paston, calling him ‘my right well beloved Valentine’. It is the earliest known letter of its kind. In the 15th century, the poet John Lydgate wrote a valentine’s poem addressed to the Virgin Mary. This is the inevitable consequence of letting a Benedictine monk get behind the wheel of a courtly love poem."

(Read)

http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2018/02/the-medieval-origins-of-valentines-day.html

3.
ASH WEDNESDAY

"Eat Pray Love"
"The confluence of the events, occurring for the first time since 1945, has created a dilemma for Roman Catholics and followers of other Christian denominations who observe Ash Wednesday. How can one simultaneously mark a solemn day when foreheads are tapped with a symbol of mortality as a call to humility and repentance, while celebrating one that glorifies the kisses and champagne of romantic love?"

(Read)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/nyregion/ash-wednesday-valentine-day.html

4.

IMBOLIC

(6 minutes)

https://youtu.be/ove90FICeTY

EVENING

At the Zendo, a sitting and walking meditation, treats and some photographs

(Reflective Selfie)

(Outside from Inside)

(Shadow)

 At home again, I wrote the lines offered at the top of this post
~*~