Letters in the library

[Biggus]

As I sit in the musty library
In a once great house
I read, not one of the leather bound tomes
That fill the shelves from floor to ceiling
But a collection of letters
Neatly tied in ribbons
And they take my breath away
For each page is part of a remarkable story
About a most extraordinary couple
And their exceptional love story
For this lovingly devoted couple
Never met
Yet their love was evident
In their personnel correspondence,
No in their Love letters
Let’s say it how it is
The flowery words of an affaire d’amour
Echoed in the calligraphy on every page
Each billet doux
More affectionate and romantic than the previous
They bill and coo on every page
Each lovingly constructed sentence
Heavily laced with innuendo
Subtle yet explicit at the same time
Flavoured with delicious nuances
Flirtatious and lustful
Romantic and affectionate
A love of such purity
Not for its pureness of thought
But for the absence of any hope of physicality
She was an invalid, bed ridden
He a subject of an enemy state
So she couldn’t go to him
He couldn’t come to her
They could never meet, would never meet
So they made love via correspondence
An affair lasting more than forty years
Only ending with his death
His dying wish that her letters be returned to her
So that they at least should lie together

[PrinceMyshkin]

I think this ought to be written out as a short story, with all the atmospherics one might expect of that genre: the narrator's own circumstance and what it was that brought him into the library that day; the quality of the light that entered the room, &c.

As it is, it lacks something of what I expect from a poem: some musicality, metaphor &c.

[Biggus]

Thanks Myshkin I will certainly give it some thought

[Delta40]

It feels like a grand story. It captures a period where hand written correspondence was so relevant to our lives.

[Jerrybaldy]

I can see the above point about poem v short story. I think I have strayed close to that line many times and probably crossed it. Probably as I have no bloody idea where that line is.

I think this works as a poem to me and although I can only guess as to how it would work as a short story, I enjoyed its current form.
cheers
Jerry

[Pensive]

I must say I enjoyed the poem even in this very format. It sounds somewhat hushed up but that's mostly alright for me. What strikes me is the theme of long distance love and the yearning of the two to be together which is so simply yet beautifully portrayed in the last lines:


His dying wish that her letters be returned to her
So that they at least should lie together

[Biggus]

Thank you all very much