A priest named Valentino, one dark day,

Gave up his heart and soul for love’s own cause;

He blessed young men in marriage to allay

Conscription to cruel wars of Claudius.

In chains, attended by his jailer’s daughter

He cured the blindness she had borne from birth—

Perhaps that Heav’n might stay the coming slaughter,

And he fulfill God’s labor here on earth.

This miracle did not persuade his captors,

That eve he gave dear Julia a letter—

Its content signed by Valentino’s hand.

That fateful missive, sealed by faith and time;

Still bleeds in red—on every Valentine.