literature

Dear Sylvia,

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Literature Text

Dear Sylvia,


     I pray this letter
     finds you in time
     to forestall the inevitable.
     If only for a moment.

     That before the first bite
     of your last supper
     and breath
     you can read these words
     and know. Know
     before your eyelids
     flutter closed
     the last time
     how much you will be
     missed.

     Did you suspect
     all that time
     with him –
     supported on your
     delicate shoulders
     it was your greatness
     and not his
     that propelled him
     to the stars?

     When you suckled
     his children – your children
     born of his pen
     or flesh
     at your breast
     did you weep
     knowing he was
     at another’s?

     When the darkness
     first came for you
     with the moon tide
     did you swim against
     the pulling tendrils
     with saltwater lungs?
     I know someday
     perhaps soon,
     I too will be pulled.
     I hope to learn
     from your example.

     You wrote me
     poems
     on cocktail napkins
     which I kissed
     and then kept
     and then read
     until I knew
     all of the words –
     your words.
     I used to whisper them
     as I cried
     myself to sleep.
     I never wrote
     anything
     to match them.
     But I try.
     I try.

     Dearest Sylvia,
     you will be
     missed by me –
     and others
     who love you
     when you decide to go.
     These words
     are not enough
     to sway you I realize.
     They come perhaps
     a generation too late.
     They echo too faintly
     across the miles
     and years.
     Just know
     that sometimes
     Our poems have no words.
     Sometimes, we are poetry.


          All my love,
T. Scott Fisher (I couldn't sign above because it would look stupid.)


This letter is not to Sylvia Plath. This letter is to anyone who gives selflessly to make others better without ever a thought to themselves. Anyone who fights to keep their head above water while helping others climb to safety. Anyone who needs to hear that they are just as special and worthy as those they support. If this letter is to you, you know it.

-tsf
© 2009 - 2024 Mahi-Fish
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