Lyric Poem · Friendship
A Valentine
1Sent to a friend who had complained that I was glad enough to see
2him when he came, but didn't seem to miss him if he stayed away.
3And cannot pleasures, while they last,
4Be actual unless, when past,
5They leave us shuddering and aghast,
6With anguish smarting?
7And cannot friends be firm and fast,
8And yet bear parting?
9And must I then, at Friendship's call,
10Calmly resign the little all
11(Trifling, I grant, it is and small)
12I have of gladness,
13And lend my being to the thrall
14Of gloom and sadness?
15And think you that I should be dumb,
16And full DOLORUM OMNIUM,
17Excepting when YOU choose to come
18And share my dinner?
19At other times be sour and glum
20And daily thinner?
21Must he then only live to weep,
22Who'd prove his friendship true and deep
23By day a lonely shadow creep,
24At night-time languish,
25Oft raising in his broken sleep
26The moan of anguish?
27The lover, if for certain days
28His fair one be denied his gaze,
29Sinks not in grief and wild amaze,
30But, wiser wooer,
31He spends the time in writing lays,
32And posts them to her.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“A Valentine” by Lewis Carroll — quilloak.com/poems/a-valentine
Quick facts
- Poem
- A Valentine
- Poet
- Lewis Carroll
- Length
- 44 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Friendship, Sad, Love
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 44 lines · 8 stanzas of 2–6 lines
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Lewis Carroll1832–1898
- Source record
- PoetryDBA Valentine by lewis-carroll, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 eabc4fd12dc6d4ad…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.