A Love Poem Project part 14

Saint Valentine.
although tired, should the interested party
impart the plot of the dreamer's cause
by permanently fixating?

Might you have killed a stale
form of the be-ers inconsiderate mind?
or bridge neatly a sober thought through
a perfectly false leaf from home.

dug up from underneath,
a wish for touch or that minute filled fully
and called "amorously unarmed
silhouette" fawning over a woman.

Or did the angel
prevent parasites from burying deep back against
those descendants mightier since a protest?
But wondering is the maker

of friends. Why tinker
with any of ours in connection
with the affair or the wine no one drank?
by then the mark did not fit.

For February 14th by Marianne Moore from Complete Poems

Saint Valentine.
although late, would "some interested law
impelled to plod in the poem's cause"
be permitted a line?

Might you have liked a stone
from a De Beers Consolidated Mine?
or badger-neat saber-thronged thistle
of Palestine--the leaves alone

down'd underneath,
worth a touch? or that mimosa-leafed vine
called an "alexander's armillary
sphere" fanning out in a wreath?

Or did the ark
preserve paradise-birds with jet-black plumbs,
whose descendants might serve as presents?
But questioning is the mark

of pest! Why think
only of animals in connection
with the ark or the wine Noah drank?
but that the ark did not sink.