Hallmark Holiday

Some chocolates in a crimson, heart shaped box.
If ever there's a thing that says I love you
with much less of an effort -- maybe socks,
a teddy or a teddy bear, what have you,
I don't know what it is -- the corner stores,
the pharmacies, the strip malls...and those cards,
in proper shade of pink: oh, she adores,
he cherishes, they worship, with regards,
and on and on. Is any of it real,
or just another method of pretending,
to mask, to hide the way you really feel,
behind the ostentatious, never ending
display of fake emotions. Dwell upon it.
To say I love you, I shall write a sonnet.