CLXIII + 

Valentine to a Little Girl + 

Little maiden, dost thou pine + 

For a faithful Valentine? + 

Art thou scanning timidly + 

Every face that meets thine eye? + 

Art thou fancying there may be + 

Fairer face than thou dost see? + 

Little maiden, scholar mine, + 

Wouldst thou have a Valentine? + 

Go and ask, my little child, + 

Ask the Mother undefiled: + 

Ask, for she will draw thee near, + 

And will whisper in thine ear:⁠— + 

“Valentine! the name is good; + 

For it comes of lineage high, + 

And a famous family: + 

And it tells of gentle blood, + 

Noble blood⁠—and nobler still, + 

For its owner freely pour’d + 

Every drop there was to spill + 

In the quarrel of his Lord. + 

Valentine! I know the name, + 

Many martyrs bear the same; + 

And they stand in glittering ring + 

Round their warrior God and King⁠— + 

Who before and for them bled⁠— + 

With their robes of ruby red, + 

And their swords of cherub flame.” + 

Yes! there is a plenty there, + 

Knights without reproach or fear⁠— + 

Such St. Denys, such St. George, + 

Martin, Maurice, Theodore, + 

And a hundred thousand more; + 

Guerdon gain’d and warfare o’er, + 

By that sea without a surge, + 

And beneath the eternal sky, + 

And the beatific Sun, + 

In Jerusalem above, + 

Valentine is every one; + 

Choose from out that company + 

Whom to serve, and whom to love. + 