In a book of love letters written centuries ago I found a line you once wrote to me
and it startled me so badly that I closed the book replaced it upon the shelf and avoided it for months.
It was a letter from a man to his lady love separately secluded in pastoral France and I think of another letter you wrote while I was in Luxembourg in which you ended with the words "Get to Paris at all costs", and I wonder if the two might be connected.
You loved my letters my practiced penmanship and humorous style but it was to my sister that my letters were most creative.
Her favorite and mine, a letter where on one page I wrote every third line until the page was full; on another I began writing on all four edges of the page and spiraled inward.
Thirteen pages, each different and unique as I recalled for her the mundane details of my days -
And then I got a computer.
And, despite my best intentions promises made to myself and friends I stopped writing letters, replacing them with infrequent cards and impersonal printouts.
And even though the content was much the same they were devoid of much of their former style and personality.
And so it was that we lost touch and I was left behind to seek you elsewhere.
I returned to that book one day and though the words of that long ago lover still rang with your voice they'd lost some of their sting.
Cori MacNaughton (prior to) 28 Apr 2005
I have read this poem in public on several occasions. This is the first time it appears in print.