Lesson Learned

Valentine's day is rapidly becoming a dreaded holiday.  Is it the obligation or the routine that makes people dread February 14.  Perhaps it's the timing.  Remember those little cartoon-like Valentine cards we used to trade in elementary school?  So much easier then.
As I look back on my romance history the regrets and mistakes, the successes and surprises, it occurs to me that the ones who I walked with for only a short time (or never) deserve a poem too.  Most of us have had people try to fix us up with someone who they thought would be a good match, only to wonder if our well-meaning friends really knew us at all.
I hear that this day can be difficult for many people because it underscores their loneliness.
It need not be that way.

A valentine for those that never were

For the slight attractions,
And the duly warned,
For the blind dates never seen,
Our mutual friends meant well.
Time heals with humor too.


For the one who couldn't recognize
The stellar voice of Nat "King" Cole,
And she who couldn't be touched,

For the one with knuckle tattoos,
And the adventurer whose hair was just too red,
For those who cut and ran,
Who knows what goes through the mind.
Each episode a sit-com or a hard lesson learned.

Shadows dark as chocolate,
Blood pure as a red blend.
I raise my glass to you cardless but
Never forgotten.