Reba's Valentine Song

From Reba of Rivermill by Thorin N. Tatge

Once I had a Valentine

It sat there on my table

It seemed to stare each night at me

Ungiven

Ungiven

I never got a valentine

From the children at my school.

I gave so many valentines

But kept one

But kept one

I sit here thinking quietly

Of my Valentine to myself...

My Valentine to myself...

My Valentine to myself...

And sometimes it stays on my bed

And sometimes on my shelf...

It holds my secret feelings

Toward myself...

I gave up giving Valentines

And even asking questions

And soon I left my school entirely.

A lot of tears went through my life;

I went out on my own

And one day I found love a different way...

I sit here thinking quietly

Of my Valentine to myself...

My Valentine to myself...

My Valentine to myself...

And sometimes it sits on my bed

And sometimes on my shelf...

It holds my secret feelings

Toward myself...

In bed, you may find Valentines

I found them all the time—

In playful pecks and utterances

Unbidden

Unbidden

I had a lot of lovers

But they never knew their gifts...

Their valentines were strewn but never given...

Given...

I sit here thinking wistfully

Of my Valentine to myself...

My Valentine to myself...

My Valentine to myself...

And sometimes it sits on my bed

And sometimes on my shelf...

It holds my secret feelings

Toward myself...

Now I have two Valentines

In colors white and gray—

They sparkle with a luster not in me.

The fact I didn't make them

Makes them all the more mine.
They were given specifically to me.

I sit here thinking quietly

Of my Valentine to myself...

My Valentine to myself...

My Valentine to myself...

I have the real thing now

So I put it on a shelf...

And now I feel

Overwhelmed with wealth...

I sit here thinking wistfully

Of my Valentine to myself...

My Valentine to myself...

My Valentine to myself...

And sometimes it sits on my bed

And sometimes on my shelf...

It holds my secret feelings

Toward myself...

It holds my secret feelings toward myself....