"A Valentine" a poem by Priscilla Jane Thompson
A poem from the public domain
Intro
February is Black History Month. All the public domain poems I’m sharing this month are by black poets.
Prior to starting this project of reading poems from the public domain, I probably only knew one Priscilla Jane Thompson poem (“Emancipation”). Maybe I should do add a second part to my Why I Read Poems from the Public Domain post. Learning more about poets I don’t know well or about ones I don’t know is definitely a big part of this project for me.
Thompson’s Wikipedia page mentions that some of her love poems include “love poems addressed to other women.” I can’t tell you for sure if she was lesbian or bisexual, but you know I love some sapphic poetry. Today is Valentine’s Day, so I thought it apropos to share her poem “A Valentine.”
Earlier this week, I shared a beautiful love poem by George Marion McClellan called “In the Heart of a Rose” and an original (sapphic) love poem I wrote for my wife called “Riverside Sunset.”
Thompson’s poem is below, followed by my reading.
💜Miranda📚
A Valentine
Out of the depths of a heart of love,
Out of the birth-place of sighs,
Freighted with hope and freighted with fear,
My all in a valentine, hies.
Oh, frail little missive
Of delicate texture,
Speed thee, on thy journey,
And give her a lecture!
Fathom her heart, that seems to me, cold,
Trouble her bosom, as mine,
Let it be mutual, this that I crave,
Her ‘yes’ for a valentine.
Oh, frail little missive,
In coy Cupid’s keeping,
Oh! speed back a message,
To set my pulse leaping.