Poem ‘A Letter’

art, english, philosophy, poems, poetry, writing 1 Minute
A drawing of an envelope
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Letter

I had a letter today,
an envelope neat and buff;
written in a fine, confident hand,
a nice final flourish at the end.
Evidently someone had time,
had taken the care
to place the Queen’s cameo
all square on the right.
Yes, a letter.
Two leaves folded and secure
and then “Dear”!
How good to see “Dear”,
and “faithfully” too.
Who is faithful now
in this swinging, shallow world?
As to the content
it escaped me—
I mean I forget.
I folded it, put it back
and sealed it as best I could,
laying it flush to the table’s edge,
and smiled

poem © copyright df barker 2012

Published by Ciscography

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48 thoughts on “Poem ‘A Letter’”

  1. I like the idea that receiving the letter is somehow more valuable than the contents. ‘Laying it flush with the table’s edge’ emphasises the importance of the physical thing over what it says. Interesting.

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  5. Hi David

    What a lovely poem 🙂
    There is nothing like a real letter 🙂 but this probably was one trying to make you buy something?

    I always found it remarkable that one should use “Dear” to start English letters with, no matter to whom it is written
    .
    “Liebe” is the way to start a German letter, which also sounds nice. Liebe Herr Flick 🙂
    In Dutch it usually is “geachte”, for strangers, and “beste” for more informal letters. People really dear to you are “lieve”. It seems there is no difference in English. Business letters starting the same as lovelettrs 🙂

    Faithfully, also a beautiful phrase. We say “Hoogachtend” in official letters.. Very distant. 🙂 Either way, the phrases don’t really mean much if you thnk of it! Which is a pity! 🙂

    I love what you did with the letter lol, and forgot what it was about!

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  7. “Evidently someone had time,
    had taken the care
    to place the Queen’s cameo
    all square on the right.” –

    this so made me think of how, in this day and age, people rarely take the time to send a letter such as this; technology means there’s not much need anymore… which I find quite sad. That’s the feling I got from it anyway! The endinf made me smile, too. 🙂

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  11. Oh, there’s nothing as special as hand-written letter, which is becoming a lost art. Thanks, as always, for sharing your poetry with the world!

    My comments have failed to reach you (an a few other WP blogs) for months, but I think Akismet has solved the problem! I always enjoy your posts! Z

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  17. Hi,
    How I miss getting those wonderful letters in the mail, it is nice to get e-mails from friends, but there was nothing like getting that personal touch in the mail. 🙂
    A lovely poem.

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  18. What great synchronisity David, I just posted a poem called “Addressed To Me” he he!

    Nice write… a reminder of our forgotten art of letter writing and the feelings dear it invokes. 🙂

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  19. Yes, set aside to save as a relic for future generations? Letter writing really is a nearly dead art. As Postal employees around the world can surely testify.

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  35. What a marvelous piece of poetry, how beautifully you described the all important contents,how you described the stamps, i used to look out for the stamps, some times got lucky and got the latest ones 🙂

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  37. Letter writing: a forgotten art. This makes me want to sit down and write one. Doubt if I will as, like all others, convenience seems to trump all else. But there is someone who comes to mind…

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  40. Brilliant David!

    Such a dying art, letter writing.

    I had to write a letter the other day to a nun I needed to get in touch with and I didn’t have an email address – fortunately. I say fortunately because I so enjoyed writing it, it was a breath of fresh air and somehow my language was very different to what it would be in an email.

    “With kindest regards”, I said, and I meant it.

    Christine

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  42. Well, David…I know exactly what you are expressing here…as I just received an actually letter a few days ago…such a rarity these days…and it felt like a treasure even before knowing what was inside…

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  43. in this time a hand written letter is indeed something to cherish. Very well expressed in ypur poem.

    Ciao, Francina

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  45. A handwritten letter containing “dear” and “faithfully” is well-worth treasuring and preserving these days. Such an artifact for posterity!

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