A Syncopated Valentine (Poem)

WHEN this world was more old-fashioned
Any touching and impassioned
Sort of sentimental valentine would do.
But today it’s somewhat harder
To convey romantic ardor
To a very modern damosel like you.
If I quoted Keats or Kipling,
With your lilting laughter rippling
You’d make fun of every one of their great rimes.
Since to win you I must woo you,
I’ve resolved to ballyhoo you
In the syncopated tempo of the times!

You’re a witch and you’re a knock-out!
How I itch to chuck the clock out
Every cozy Wednesday evening when I call.
You’re the kind of clever cutie
Who has mind as well as beauty—
You’re the smooth banana peel that made me fall!
You have eyes that shine like headlights.
They are green lights, they are red lights,
They are Stop and Go and gleaming moon and sun.
As a bride you’d be a panic!
You’re the qualified mechanic
Who can fix it so two hearts will beat as one!

I’ll intrust my destination
To your skillful navigation.
If you’ll steer the ship I’ll always be on deck.
If you’ll amble to the altar
I won’t falter when the halter
Is forever placed around my willing neck.
We can mingle in a penthouse,
In a shingle or cement house
With a breakfast nook, a German cook and Peke.
Here’s to love! Come on, let’s share it,
Let’s both Lohengrin and bear it.
Let’s declare it to a preacher in a week!
—Arthur L. Lippmann

From the Feburary 13, 1932 issue of the Post.