Showing Valentine's Day a Little Love

Puisi Valentine "O, know'st thou not his looks are my soul's food?
Pity the dearth that I have pined in,
By longing for that food so long a time.
Didst thou but know the inly touch of love,
Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow
As seek to quench the fire of love with words."

Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II, Scene VII
William Shakespeare

Valentine Poetry Since time immemorial, mankind has been absolutely busy with the job of keeping mankind around. Whatever our history of war and violence might have to say about us, looking back also reveals an equally rich a history of love and affection.

And no, I don't mean sex. Well, okay. I don't just mean sex.

Whatever modern pragmatists may say about our historical mate-selection processes, and however true many of the unglamorous realities have proven, the fact remains: sometimes you can't get someone out of your head - and this is ridiculously well-documented; romantic poetry is old. When our ancestors were cobbling together the first sets of stone tools, you can bet that somebody used them to carve whatever passed for initials back then into a tree, alongside the emblematic representation of their chosen paramour.

And yes, that is a lot of syllables to say that we humans are a romantic bunch, but you're in college now; suck it up. So here we are, 2010, and we in the United States are no different - in fact, we have a holiday dedicated to the concept of romantic love.