happy valentines day!

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Leaves and flowers are never rated the same:
Flowers put into pots of gold; leaves turn to dust.
Still there are the green foliage and the red blooms.
Folded, stretched out, open or closed: all naturally beautiful.
These flowers, these leaves, long mirror each other's glory:
When their greens pale, their reds fade --
it's more than one can bear.

Li Shang-yin, Chinese poet.