Working Girls (February 14th)

In drab, short dayfalls, we would like to know
that there is more to life than schedules
and checklists noting failure, triumph, growth.
Instead of counting how we keep the rules

(or break, bend, make them), we would like to think
we are more than the sum of what we do.
Our chains are not St. Valentine's--are linked
by neither steel nor love, are more obtuse.

Are we the jailer's daughter, or the man
himself? Unloved and lovely? Unloved,
unlovable? Detained by kinks of mind
and fractured hearts, we guard against rebuff.

Oh, why mistrust the One who gave his life?
We have our valentine. We need our sight.