Letter After Letter
Letter after letter
I imposed on your heart my will to love
Affection became sentences I still serve
Periodless
Upon the evening table of supper
And the morning counter of tea
Where loneliness impales me more
Each moment with you.
Letter after letter
You will begin to understand paragraphs
Of my history
Collapsing during my sentence
Into words of grief.
The envelope is a prison for each meaning
Of each word you read.
To let them stay there
Without proceedings from your heart
Is the genesis of tears.
Letter after letter
Promise upon promise piles
And your immobility
Convinces me you speak another language
Or cannot read
What so plain your heart has placed before your eyes
And though illiterate
Shall my love not be spelt the same
Abandonment of self
For you whose history is abandoning promise
And breaking bonds
Where an envelope is sealed.
Letter after letter
You will come one day with nothing to day
There will be no cable for the bills are unpaid
There will be television or radio
For the same reason
You will see sunlight for a season
And sit under a tree
You will open my letters to page upon page of your heart
And you will cipher words
And then meaning of memory -
Memory will be important for reading is discovery
And letter after letter
Your tears will flow for time
And then for a second of your sigh
You shall know me by my love for you.
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