Valentine Poems for Kids

If You Were My Star

If you were my shining star

And I were your midnight,

I’d let you shine above me,

You’d be my only light.

* * *

If You Were My Piano

If you were my grand piano

And I were a sweet love song,

I’d let your keys tickle and tease

My melody all day long.

* * *

If You Were My Book

If you were the pages of my book

And I were reading you,

I’d read as slow as I could go

So I never would get through.

from IF YOU WERE MY VALENTINE

©Charles Ghigna
Published by Simon & Schuster

     I created the If You Were poem format in the mid-1970s during my early school visit days to help introduce students and teachers to metaphor.  

     The If You Were poem consists of 4 lines (quatrain) and 2 rhymes (lines 2 & 4).  It contains 2 comparisons (metaphors), one for the “I” of the poem and one for the “you.”

     Instructions:  Think of a person you like. Compare that person to a thing (inanimate object). Now compare yourself to a thing associated with the first object.

     Have fun writing your own If You Were Poems! It's easy once you get started. Begin by writing just one for your teacher ... and your Mom and Dad, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousins ... and friends! Who knows? You might want to write a whole book of them! 

     For a list of other poem formats, please visit How to Write a Poem