Valentine's Day Rant 2011 Version

Well friends, if it's near February 14, it must mean it's time for another Valentine's Day rant. This year I went with iambic pentameter, four line stanzas, and an abab rhyme scheme, capping it off with a couplet. 30 lines in total. The tone is a little more sober than my more recent efforts, but it matches the subject matter, I think. No zombies, or teddy bears, or other fantastical elements. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

“The Budget”

Ah Valentine, your day has lost its sheen;

Its symbolism now commercialized

So far beyond just what it used to mean;

Now Love is wrapped in bows, all but disguised.

What happens when these fetishes get priced

So high above the reach of common folk?

Is Love worth less if lesser goods sufficed?

Would fewer even try if they were broke?

Uncertain is the economic clime

That greets this day we celebrate Romance;

The crass commercialism of the time,

No longer can continue its advance.

The celebrants now find the cost too steep

For what once was a trivial expense.

High value gifts once possible for cheap,

They now do not make good financial sense.

The syndicate of cards, and flowers, and plush

Retrench when they confront their ink of red.

Long used to profit margins much more flush,

They wither from the revenue they've bled.

Demand is low, and yet supplies still glut;

But forecasts must be met, so prices soar.

Consumers looking for a budget cut

All spent and worn, just feel gauged more and more.

With tightened belts and more so purse-strings taut,

Attendants of this love-lorn day seek out

A true display of what Love really ought

To be; A kiss, a hug, and leave no doubt.

Can Valentine's Day regain what was lost?

The choice is ours, for we decide the cost.

- James Morris, February 13, 2011