Offering 2024–046

a tanka (sort of) -

will she feel as loved
on February 15th
as the day before?

I hope that she says ‘yes’
I pray that she says ‘yes’

— —

Happy St. Claude La Colombiere Day!

What? You’ve not heard of the patron saint of toymakers? You’ve not read any of the writings or sermons he was known for? You aren’t familiar with how he died of poor health after being released from an English proetefor attempting to convert Protestants back to Catholicism?

It sounds like St. Claude needs better marketing.

Maybe he should reach out to guy whose day we celebrated yesterday.

That’s right — a significant amount of the world celebrated the day that a third-century priest was martyred for defying the emporer and marrying young couples in secret.

Now that’s marketing! It’s such a powerful story that eighteen hundred years later, I wrote my beloved a sonnet, bought her flowers, made her dinner, and showered her with affection. I wasn’t alone — I ran into at least five other men getting flowers for their beloved when I picked up mine.

That was yesterday. What about today?

My beloved deserves sonnets and flowers and dinner and affection every bit as much on St. Claude’s Day as she does for St. Valentine’s Day. If time and money were no object, I would do just that, but the means of a middle-aged civil servant living in the distant suburb of a small Midwestern city will only stretch so far.

I must find other ways for her to feel loved.

Today, I do that by offering a tanka (yes, I’m two syllables short, but it demanded to be written that way) for her with the fervent hope she feels just as loved by me on St. Claude’s Day as she does for any other saint day.

I hope that she says yes.

I pray that she says yes.