Sunday, 19 June 2022

LETTERS IN THE LIBRARY

 

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

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