The poem is a reverent reflection on Valentine’s Day (February 14), portraying true, initiating love as originating not in earthly romance or symbols (roses, cards, candy hearts), but in God’s eternal, sacrificial love demonstrated on the cross at Calvary.

Key themes:

• God’s love precedes and surpasses all human expressions of affection—He first loved us, choosing and claiming believers long before any Valentine gesture (drawing from 1 John 4:19 KJV).
• Christ’s wounds (palms pierced with iron and blood) eternally bear our names, securing an unbreakable bond.
• Human vows and romantic symbols (red roses, embraces) are mere shadows pointing to the deeper, conquering love of Christ’s death and resurrection (echoing John 15:13 KJV and Ephesians 5:25 KJV).
• The soul responds not by initiating romance, but in humble worship and surrender: bowing low and declaring, “Lord, I am Yours—eternally Thine,” under the protective “banner of love” (Song of Solomon 2:4 KJV).

Overall, it reframes Valentine’s Day as a celebration of Christ’s pursuing, redeeming, and unfailing love for His people—far greater and more enduring than any temporal expression—inviting the reader to rest in that divine romance.

1 John 4:19 (KJV)
We love him, because he first loved us.

John 15:13 (KJV)
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Ephesians 5:25 (KJV)
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

Song of Solomon 2:4 (KJV)
He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

In the hush before the morning broke,
Love was already spoken—
Not first in roses, not in gold,
But in a cross of splintered oak.

You were chosen long before the card,
Before the candy heart could form its claim;
Written on palms with iron and blood,
My name, your name, carved in the same.

No vow we offer on this day
Can match the vow You spoke at Calvary:
“This one is Mine, though hell should rage,
I’ll love them to eternity.”

So let the red of roses nod
Toward the deeper red You gave;
Let every embrace be but a shadow
Of the love that conquered grave.

Yet in this sacred, shadowed light,
My soul bows low and softly cries:
“Lord, I am Yours—eternally Thine,”
Beneath the banner of love divine.