"A mighty pain to love it is"

This is a love poem.  With Valentine's Day on the horizon, I felt it would be appropriate to share it.

The Last Word

Peter Davison

When I saw your head bow, I knew I had beaten you. 

You shed no tear -not near me- but held your neck

Bare for the blow I had been too frightened

Ever to deliver, even in words.  And now,
In spite of me, plummeting it came.
Frozen we both waited for its fall.
Most of what you gave me I have forgotten
With my mind but taken into my body,
But this I remember well: the bones of your neck
And the strain in my shoulders as I heaved up that huge
Double blade and snapped by wrists to swing
The handle down and hear the axe's edge
Nick through your flesh and creak into the block.

It's probably pretty clear how I feel about Valentine's Day.  Don't care for it one bit.