PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

So much technology at our fingertips allows us to communicate with each other so much faster…but not necessarily better…for lost in our alacrity is the art of the love letter.

Oh, we can end a text with emoticons for love <3 for happy :) for kiss * but we don’t have to write complete sentences anymore…which is something I dearly miss.

For it is only in a card or letter where the seeds of love are truly sown…taking the time to form the letters…writing from our heart…is an art form all its own.

When it comes to letter writing the French know this to be true…they have a special term for a love letter…it’s called the billet-doux.

Why you may ask in today’s fast paced world send something that moves with the speed of a snail?  Because nothing beats the feeling one has when they receive a love letter in the mail.

(Let me assuage any misconceptions you may be thinking of…

for any letter or card you send someone…is an act of love.)

That elation we experience opening the envelope addressed to us and taking out a personal note…knowing someone not only took the time to write it…but to think about what they wrote.

Knowing they wrote it just for us…not for the entire world to see…gives the billet-doux a feeling of friendship…of closeness…of affection…of intimacy.

Yes the world is moving by at a rapid pace but a love letter is one way to fight it..because the greatest gift in a love letter is the time we take to write it.

So here’s to writing and sending more love letters…for I imagine there are people out there who…would love to be on the receiving end of a billet-doux…from you.

Whenever my life seems out of balance…when things are difficult for me…

I remember I am loved…and rediscover life’s symmetry.

Whenever the music of my life is out of tune…when I lose the melody…

I remember I am loved…and rediscover life’s harmony.

Whenever my world turns dark and colorless…when it’s beauty I can no longer see…

I remember I am loved…and rediscover life’s artistry.

Whenever I’m feeling lonely…when I think I’m on my own…

I remember I am loved…and rediscover I am not alone.

Whenever I see others who have so much more than me…when I think life’s unfair…

I remember I am loved…and rediscover riches beyond compare.

And whenever I’m discouraged over a dream that didn’t come true…

I remember I am loved …and rediscover…how some dreams do..

Whether it be partners, family, friends or pets…I am happy to concede

All the times in life I’ve rediscovered…

how love is all I need.

He had a conversation with an angel…he was seated by a stream…when he noticed she was next to him…then again he thought…it could have been a dream.

“I see you are shouldered with sadness.” The angel said, “And this sadness carries great weight.”

He nodded, “I don’t understand how a world created out of love can be filled with so much hate.”

“It is difficult to understand,” the angel said, “how love and hate grow from the same seed…when nurtured with love it grows into a flower…when raised in hate…it grows into a weed.”

“And though that seed is fragile it is also resilient…for everyone has it within their power to turn any flower into a weed…and any weed into a flower.”

“I imagine what is making you sad what tends to make your world seem sour…

Is how easy it is to turn a flower into a weed…but how difficult to turn a weed into a flower…

“But it can be done…begin by looking around you…start now…don’t hesitate and you’ll be pleasantly surprised…how you’ll see more love than hate.”

And as you look around you’ll see…when it’s love each seed consumes…

or when love is substituted for hate…how another flower blooms.

Remember love and hate speak different languages…but the more you concentrate 

…the more words of love you speak…the less words you’ll have for hate. 

And you must believe…as I believe…it’s why I came to you today…

to remind you…with your help…and with the help of others…love will find a way.

She left him smiling…thinking about her words…still seated by the stream…

still wondering if what he just experienced was real…or if it was a dream…

No matter he thought to himself…whether a dream or an angel sent from above

It was time to do his part…for there are many seeds in need of love.

Of all the things he loves about her…of those he can and cannot see…he loves how emotional…how nostalgic…how sentimental she can be.

He loves how in the big and in the small things in life her sentimentality is infused…which is why he understood her tears…as she gazed at her new shoes.

Her old shoes were showing their age…from all those years of being worn…they were weathered around the edges…and the toe of one was torn.

But her new shoes still sat in the closet…she hadn’t worn them yet….it seems her old shoes were full of memories she was not yet ready to forget.

But it was time…she knew it…and she knew the reason why…her old shoes were ready to be retired…it was time to say goodbye.

She looked at her new shoes then to her old shoes….and thought of all the times lived in between…all the places those old shoes had taken her…all the things, together, they had seen.

“My old shoes are like old friends.” She said. “They’ve earned a place in my affection.   And just like a pair of old friends…I’ve learned to look past their flaws and imperfections.”

“There is a comfort you develop with old friends…an enjoyment you never want to lose.”

She said…a tear dropping to her cheek as she held up her old shoes.

I imagine she was thinking how one pair marks the end of a journey…the other where a new one begins…when suddenly a thought crossed her mind…and her face evolved into a grin.

“I bet these old shoes have one memory left.” She smiled. “One more walk, one more run, one more climb.” Then she slipped then on and laced them up for what would be their one last time.

Yes, this os one of the things he loves about her he thought…as off the beaten path they traversed…

how the last walk in a pair of old shoes can make her as happy as the first.

Some people think of family as an endless book where each day they engage in completing another chapter…in writing another page

Some people think of family as an endless song with notes varied and diverse…where each day they add another tune…another melody another verse.

Though both of these are appealing I find, for me, it is much better…when I think of my family..to think in terms of a lifelong love letter.

A letter started long ago…I know not when or where…written through the centuries with thoughtfulness and care.

A letter written by a million hands…young and old and new…a letter any family member can add their thoughts and feelings to.

This love letter is special to my family…we are the ones who see…within this letter…the constant rebuilding and rearranging of our family.

But here is where it gets interesting…mysterious even madcap…in the way so many of all our family love letters blend together…overlap.

For as we write a little every day how often do we find…I end up in your love letter…and you end up in mine.

For in this letter not only members born into my family will you see…but friends I’ve met along the way…who have become my family. 

If you’re looking for its beauty and its power once the seeds of love are sown…the proof is in our love letters…and how large our families have grown.

And if we’re lucky…

when our writing days are done…

another family member will pick up the pen…thus extending…

this love letter….started long ago…

that, hopefully…will never have an ending..

As I looked around me on my walk this morning I began to wonder about creation…was it a BIG bang…or was it small…then I began to wonder how any of this…any of us…were created after all.

Were we created by a supreme being…a God…in whose presence we’d be awed…and, if so, when you stop to think about it…who created God?

But today as house after house filled with families I found myself walking by…I started wondering less about who and how we were created…and wondering more about why.

Since love created most of us and the place we all began to bloom was in the warmth…the safety…the security of our mother’s womb…I wonder if that’s one tacit way our creator makes it known…that none of us is meant to walk through life alone.

Perhaps we’re meant to walk as we were created…in love and kindness…among family and friends…from the moment we are created…until the moment our life ends.

And since we share how we enter the world with every other human who upon this planet dwell…perhaps we’re meant to discover all the other things we have in common as well.

I wonder if, when the Gods were creating, if they made one special person who…was created just for me..and, if so, one for you?

And what if sex, religion, color didn’t matter to all those Gods above…what if the only thing that matters to them what that we find our one true love.

What if life is to be a quest…over mountains, into valleys, across rivers, lakes and shores…to find that special person whom we were created for?

And when you discover that person (trust me…when you find them you will know!) what if our hearts were created in such a way…we will never let them go?

What if, when we find them, in our heart a perpetual light turns on…a light that will keep burning…even after they are gone?

And what if you haven’t found that person…what if you haven’t yet been blessed…are you meant to keep on looking…to never stop your quest?

As I came to the end of my walk I realized these are questions whose answers, hopefully, one day I will find…until then I am more than happy to leave these musings to greater minds than mine.

Happy every day just to walk through life elated…not knowing who or how or why…but giving thanks for their Earth…for their nature…for their animals…for their love and for the world that they created.

There are man things to love about love one is how it follows no set pattern…no rules…no norms…another is how it can pop up all around us in many sizes…shapes and forms.

We spotted this older couple (let me digress a moment to discuss…when I say older couple what I mean is a couple who’s older than us).

Anyway, we spotted this older couple…we’ve never seen them here before…as they exited their car to take a morning walk along the shore.

As I say…they were a little older and what made matters even worse…to get down to the shore…there is a little ridge they must traverse.

But we found we needn’t worry…this ridge…they had an answer for…he held her hands to steady her…until her feet were safely planted on the shore.

And still holding on to his hands…even though she was quite small…she helped him down the ridge…making sure he didn’t fall.

Then off they walked together…down the beach…along the sand…walking toward the sunrise…stride for stride…and hand in hand.

This is just what I was talking about…exactly what I was thinking of…as what we witnessed on the beach were two simple acts of love.

The first is how love helps love…as we realized when their scaling was done…their task was made less difficult…with two…instead of one.

And the second…as we watched them walk along silhouetted in the morning glow…

the second is my favorite…

how love means…

never letting go.

The young couple was engaged to be married…and though they hadn’t set a date…their families came together to rejoice and to celebrate.

And celebrate they did with food and wine and song…toasts were made to the couple…that their life be happy, successful and long.

That their life be one of hopes and dreams fulfilled…of wonder and surprise…their mothers were so happy…tears fell from their eyes.

Their fathers were busy shaking hands and doing what fathers do…but…if you took the time to notice…their were tears in their eyes too.

As I watched the celebration…watched the festivities unfold that day…

If I was to give them some advice…this is what I’d say.

As you spend your life together…whatever happens…come what may…before you close your eyes each night…may you wish for one more day.

One more day to love…to laugh…to count the stars up in the sky…one more day to make mistakes…to apologize…to cry.

One more day to face the world united…to endure the fairest and foulest weather…one more day of life…one more day to be together.

It’s such a wonderful feeling when you open your eyes once the night is through…to look at one another and know another wish came true.

This would be advice…yes…this is what I’d say…

I’d wish you a wonderful life together…filled with a multitude of one more days.

For all we really have are moments together…moments when we laugh and love and play…

And the best any of us can hope for…is one more moment…one more day.

They were never meant to be together

She was much too short…and he was much too tall

He loved the silence…

She loved a tune 

He was always chasing sunsets

She was following the moon.

But she began to to enjoy his silence

he…to appreciate her tunes

and they began chasing sunsets together

then together following the moon…

And suddenly she didn’t seem as short…

and he didn’t seem as tall

I wonder if, perhaps, they were meant to be together after all