It’s Valentine’s Day! To celebrate, we’ve got a short poem that extols our love of fencing. We hope you enjoy.

How do I love fencing? Let me count the ways.

I love fencing to the height of the podium and the breadth of the strip.

My passion reaches higher, my skill takes flight in every competition trip.

I love fencing to the level of each day’s hard work,

Packing and unpacking the fencing bag in which my smelly glove does lurk.

I love fencing freely, without demanding that it return anything more than I give.

I love fencing purely, for the joy that it brings me in the thrill of swords clinking.

I love fencing with a passion that I put to use in lessons and in classes.

I love fencing when I forfeit a touch or lose the bout.

This goal of winning is not the only thing this is about.

Smiles, tears, aching muscles, tired legs

I shall still love fencing when for a rest my body begs.

*this poem was inspired by Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s classic poem Sonnet 43

**image credit – http://www.loveforsport.co.uk/portfolio/fencing/