“TO MY VALENTINE” poem by Stanley H. Barkan, USA

TO MY VALENTINE

14 February 2024

Sometimes when it’s dusk or twilight,

the in-between time,

between light and dark,

dark and light,

I think of you

when we first met.

.

My friend Ira, stunt flyer roommate

at the U of M, and I

came as blind dates

for you and your sister, Bonnie.

.

As the door at East 2nd Street opened,

I saw through some long poles

a row of white teeth,

smiles on the faces of three young ladies:

you, your sister, and a girlfriend.

.

We went out for a movie

and/or a restaurant,

I can’t remember which,

and talked about ourselves.

.

You were so cute with your Mia Farrow haircut,

your skirt and blouse, revealing 

how well-developed you were

in all the right places.

.

I knew right then, especially,

when saying good night, 

I pinched your bottom,

and you didn’t object,

that you were my kind of Brooklyn,

but not a Flatbush, girl,

the kind of girl

my mother and father would love,

the girl who’d be my basherte ,

the mother of our children,

and a real partner for life.

.

And now, more than half a century later,

you’ve fulfilled my every dream

for what you were and are and always will be

from tohu va bohu till the End of Days

—my best ever Valentine.

Stanley