Correspondence - A Love Poem

I was acting as a volunteer janitor at my church today, which means I had plenty of time to think. My wandering mind hit upon the idea of people writing letters to each other, and the difficulty of waiting for the post to go back and forth. I liked the idea of a patient romance, a steadily progressing bond, and this is the poem that resulted when I got home.

Their love tasted of envelopes and postage stamps,

Black and white loops and lines their only images

To assess with ardent eyes. The drip of a pen

Fresh from a dip and a smooth nib on coarse pads

The preserved sound of enkindled warmth.

Youth has its virtues, resiliencies that fade

Into forgotten zones with age, so it lasted,

Lasted a time in a time without an electric spark,

Until again they met, brought by what winds

The world could muster.

There they stood, restrained to stillness by hope; then

His knee grew damp, likewise her eyes,

A printed love made flesh.