Wild sings the bird of the heart . . .

Saturday, February 14, 2026. It's the Satyr's day . . . rain off/on/off is in the forecasts for TulseyTown today and into the evening. Moderate Southerlies are to maintain mid 60's.

The comedian Jack Benny was born on this day in 1894, Chicago. The undisputed master of timing, he was Johnny Carson's idol.

It's Valentine's day. The celebration has both secular and religious roots dating to Roman times.

Some poems prompted by the occasion . . .

Wild, Wild

Why couldn't Romeo have settled for someone else?

Why couldn't Tristan and Isolde refused

the shining cup which would

have left peaceful the whole kingdom?

Wild sings the bird of the heart

in the forests of our lives.

And wild, wild sings the bird.

– Mary Oliver, “Wild, Wild” from New and Selected Poems, Volume 2, Beacon Press, 2006.

The More Loving One

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

– W.H. Auden, The More Loving One, Curtis Brown, Ltd. 1960.

Like fireflies searching in the rain

for you

at the speed of light.

– jab