In lieu of candy hearts and Hallmark cards,

here’s a Valentine, from the Daily’s Editorial Board bards

On Feb. 14, some give their sweethearts roses

But today, at a bouquet, we’d turn up our noses

When people are suffering and times are tough,

a gift of flowers just isn’t enough

Dear Cupid, please, hear our request

Use your powers for more than romance, at our behest

You see, dear Cupid, there are so many struck

by your arrow’s power, but they’re out of luck

Despite great efforts, struggle and strife

some are determined to keep marriage to just “man and wife”

We can’t, in good conscience, blindly celebrate this day

when the Steve Kings and Terry Branstads of the world get in the way

of couples in love, who just want to vow

to stand with each other, for forever — starting now

Cupid, we ask you, visit the ones who make laws

Infect them with your love bug, and give them reason to pause

Show them the errors of their discriminatory ways

Help them see that couples — straight, lesbian and gay

are really just couples, like any others

They’re our friends, our neighbors, our sisters and brothers

They deserve the same rights as any couple in love

Our laws shouldn’t rank one couple above

another, just because of the genders involved

We thought after the April 2009 Iowa Supreme Court ruling, this problem might be solved

Yet the Iowa House just passed a resolution

to amend this great state’s Constitution,

adding provisions that would discriminate,

preaching a message that this state endorses hate

But that message doesn’t echo our state motto’s refrain:

“Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.”

Cupid, instead of a box of candy,

here’s a valentine for Gov. Branstad that would be just dandy:

“Dear Governor, how about some accountability,

when you say you want to treat everyone with fairness and equity?”

On this day of Valentine

We have just one wish in mind

We don’t think it’s too much for us to ask

for our government to take on the task

of stepping away from polity

and protecting civil rights and equality.