Tell Her I Said, "Hello!"
When you see her, tell her how much
I've grown, since I wrote of my great
love for her
way back in high school.
A lot has now changed—and how it
now shows—since I have "come out of
the closet," and do I feel like a fool!
I could cry myself a river: for, never
will I marry the one hummin' under the
moon with the song of her own tune.
She's the most wonderful singer with the
notes that she can carry, which is why "Miss
Otis Regrets"
he can't change anytime soon!
But I fall in love too easily, because she
is divine and that much more. So, let me
sigh when I'm blue—which is just my
prelude to a daydream with Linda as
my valentine, as such—for, I've never
been in love before with a crooner so true!
Linda, I can't get out of town to
escape the bright light of truth;
So, I'll be looking at the moon,
my dear, but I'll be seeing you!
-Paul Whiting
(a.k.a., Small All White in the Forest)
"I am no barrier to its sun; the light and I are as one!"
My Poetic Notes:
The reason that I wrote this poem can be summed up with the following statement: For "My Funny Valentine," Linda Ronstadt, whom I've had a crush on since high school...
...And this poem for Valentine's Day is actually the final sonnet poem that I wrote for Linda Ronstadt based upon her last album of standard songs titled, "Hummin' To Myself." (Please see the hyperlink below for the videos.)
The first three sonnets that I wrote for Ms. Ronstadt were based upon her previous three standard albums titled, "What's New," "Lush Life" and "For Sentimental Reasons," respectively.
("In music, a standard is a musical composition of established popularity, considered part of the 'standard repertoire' of one or several genres.")
Those three sonnets were written in the mid-to-late 1980s. And, although I no longer have copies of those three sonnets, the first two sonnets were published in my high school literary magazine in Utah!
By the way, there are two other poems that are inspired by Linda Ronstadt on my blogs. One poem is an homage to the compilation album titled, "'Round Midnight" from her first three albums of standard songs. The other poem is based upon all of the songs from Ms. Ronstadt's standard albums—which include the words "fool, foolish or fooled" in the song—for April Fools' Day! Both poems are published on this blog. (Please see "Singer Linda Ronstadt-Inspired Poem" in labels for the poems.)
Just so you know, I revised this poem, as I often do with my writing! And I changed how this poem was written when I was editing it on my "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" and "Small All White in the Forest" blogs. So, I wanted to show you how this poem used to be written, before I revised it as above.
And it used to be written like this:
Tell Her I Said, "Hello!"
When you see her, tell her how much
I've grown, since I wrote of my great
love for her, way back in high school.
A lot has now changed, and how it
now shows, since I have come out of
the closet—and boy, do I feel like a fool!
I could cry myself a river; for, never will
I marry the one humming under the
moon with the song of her own tune.
She's the most wonderful singer with
the notes she can carry, which is why "Miss
Otis Regrets" he can't change anytime soon!
But I fall in love too easily, as she is
divine and so much more. So, let me
sigh when I'm blue, which is just my
prelude to a daydream with Linda as
my valentine—as such—for, I have never
been in love before with a crooner so true!
Linda, I can't get out of town to
escape the bright light of truth;
So, I'll be looking at the moon,
my dear, but I'll be seeing you!
Thus, I revised this poem to be written as it is above.
And this poem was also published on my "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" blog (please see the hyperlink below for the blog), since I feel that the message in this poem applies to the message that I am trying to convey through "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer."
This poem was written in Portland, Oregon.
-Paulee
https://paulwhitingwriting.blogspot.com
Watch "Linda Ronstadt - Hummin to Myself" on YouTube:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtJK_InIjqtSGYZGVxNKRTPVoSbsqsxff
"Hummin' to Myself (Linda Ronstadt album)" from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia—which is funded primarily through donations from millions of individuals around the world, including this blogger (I make a totally affordable one-time donation if they are requesting donations when I am on their website):
Track listing:
1. Tell Him I Said Hello
2. Never Will I Marry
3. Cry Me a River
4. Hummin' to Myself
5. Miss Otis Regrets
6. I Fall in Love Too Easily
7. Blue Prelude
8. Day Dream
9. I've Never Been in Love Before
10. Get Out of Town
11. I'll Be Seeing You
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummin%27_to_Myself_(Linda_Ronstadt_album)
This "Small All White in the Forest" Post No. 079 was edited on November 5th, 2025.
"Poetry is using the fewest words possible in order to describe all that is possible to describe." –Paul Whiting [June 1st, 2022]
