[Poems by Kilmer in] Memories of my son Sergeant Joyce Kilmer ::

VALENTINE TO MY MOTHER, 1914

The English meadows call her, and the streets of London Town,
And the pleasant little villages under the Yorkshire hills.
She can see the roads, like ribbons white, that stretch across the down,
And the great slow turning sails of sleepy mills.
She longs for stately mansions, in whose eaves the pigeons coo,
And she longs for yellow corn-fields, where the scarlet poppies shine,
She loves the folk of England, and, of course, they love her too
But she lingers in America to be my Valentine.

(Set to music by A. K. K. and published in London)

University of Virginia Library

VALENTINE TO MY MOTHER, 1914