Valentine's Haunt

The creak of the forgotten drawer

As it reveals with reluctance

A card collection of childhood charm

And gratitude expressed with love

Tickets back in time alighting on platforms G

Of Father’s Days and birthdays past

Sentiment blend with jokes about my age

That show their age as they chuckle at mine

Birthday cards deliver fresh smiles

Words written by small hands add big hugs

Warmth floods through recollection

Before the chill of the unexpected

Once opened its emotion in motion

A vowed escapes from its page

The lilt of a promise to love for life

A love more than I could ever know

Solitary pledge composed in earnest

Ghost of Valentine past Well past its read by date

Undermined by ironic hindsight

Buried once more. As the drawer creaks closed.