Editor’s note: In light of yesterday being Valentine's Day, Amos had several opportunities for reflection on his relationship to Jenny, the cute little mouse next door, and how their relationship began. So Amos harks back to that special time in his life. During that time, our little erstwhile poet was having difficulty keeping up with his writing.

Normally, he's always eager to write and grateful for the opportunity to do it.

But there was nothing "normal" about his behavior then. He just sat on the space bar and stared into space. It appears that he had fallen in love (although he preferred to say that he "grew in love" - and it did seem to have a more natural ring to it) with the little girl mouse next door.

As his love grew, our paper supply dwindled proportionately. He wrapped her flowers with and wrote her songs and poems on our church's copier paper, Kleenex, toilet paper, and kitchen napkins. Thoughts of herseemed to dominate his brain at the time.

Amos is a churchmouse, who types by hopping on the computer keyboard, but he can't operate the capital shift, and he shuns punctuation marks -except hyphens and dashes.

Amos Pursues His Sweetheart

boss i know that you

know about jenny the cute

little mouse next door

in fact i still remember

the little freeway you

built from my matchbox

to hers and the two signs

at each end that read sourly

mouse-to-mouse

communication

maybe i didn t appreciate it

at the time boss but that

phrase says quite a lot

after all what is love but

a deeper communication -

a communication that is

more than just the sharing

of words and thoughts but

the sharing of ourselves

speaking of communication

have you noticed that the

paper supply around here is

dwindling i can t find any

more computer paper to write

my poems to jenny or wrap

her flowers or send her candy

in even the tissue paper the

kitchen napkins and toilet

paper are becoming endangered

species around here - what

are you doing with it all

question mark here boss

when i think about jenny

i feel a feeling composed

of many feelings

none of which resemble

heartburn or acid indigestion

as you so profoundly suggested

the other day and my love

wasn t at all affected by

your alka-seltzer

my love ripples and flows

within me its swells lash

into the boat-filled bays of

my consciousness affecting

even the dirt beaches of my

external world - jenny s love

for christ and for me has

deepened my own awareness

and love for christ

in fact it has made

my life an amplifier

of his love everywhere

for when two in love

love jesus more

jesus loves through the two

deeper than either loved before

looking at this now boss i

think a mouse s efforts would

be in vain and have no purpose

if he knows no experience

of jesus love -

his would be the empty life

amos

p s - boss just to reiterate

about the paper supply i don t

know what you ve been doing

with it all but we re really

running low so when you

order the next ream get the

kind with the yellow and

blue flowers and ducks all

over it jenny likes the

flowers i like the ducks