Tuesday, January 3, 2012

a love letter

My darling iridescent angel,

Today I cannot shake you from my mind. I believe my dreams must've been full of your singing, you adorable siren.
These days I am strangely silent, as if everything I want to say doesn't seem worth saying to anyone but you. You--you make my favourite topics even more dear, with the way you firmly grasp them and spread them out before you--the way they make your eyes come alive.

I don't know how much longer I can go without hearing your laugh and seeing the way your eyes and nose screw up with merriment. I am saving up amusing things to tell you--I've got quite a trove of them now. I suspect, though, when I finally am able to be with you I shall lose them all in the flood of my long awaited happiness.

My hands are cold. Every single bit of me is cold. I wish you were here to warm me.
The shipwreck known as me has never longed to land anywhere but in your arms, I hope you know that. Every day spent all these miles from you makes that painfully apparent.

All my love to you and many kisses. For the two little rascals, as well. (I hope you tell them stories of me every night, so they are not forgetting their absent father who would really much prefer to be with them then stuck in a mire of endless business.)

I love you for always--till the moon crumbles, till the sun turns to ash, and far beyond that too.

Ever your incurably infatuated husband,

C.E.


Postscript - Make sure you write your reply in the strongest ink you can find--I always fear I'll fade your words with my constant readings.


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I finished reading the biography Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy - A Lost Generation Love Story by Amanda Vaill yesterday and for some reason it inspired me to write this imaginary letter. There weren't really any love letters in the book, but spending time in the midst of that era (n.b. the 1920's and 1930's) and its people (the Murphys, the Fitzgeralds &c.)inspired me. Actually, it wasn't till I was looking up a picture of Sara Murphy that the letter started coming into my head. That would be the picture above, by the way. Isn't she lovely? She also happens to share a name with one of my favourite people... :)
The initials C.E. were pulled out of thin air, in case anyone was wondering.


Still don't really feel like talking about life. I am feeling pretty positive about this new year, though. I hope everyone else is too!

18 comments:

  1. I love this! You know a book is good when it inspires this kind of writing. You write wonderfully. I'm glad you're feeling positive about this year :) I have my hopes too. I hope you're keeping well, lovely. xxx

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  2. "Make sure you write your reply in the strongest ink you can find--I always fear I'll fade your words with my constant readings."

    This is beautiful! I love reading love letters (real or not - oh my, couldn't even find the right word for that) ♥

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  3. Dearest, this is so so beautiful! I wish someday someone would write a letter as beautiful to me :)
    Your words are full of magic. ♥

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  4. Beautiful letter! It brought to mind the smell of the paper it could have been written on... as I was reading it...it feels so real.

    Surprising moments of inspiration are the greatest. :) <3

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  5. Ah yes, that's rather a smashing name if you ask me;-) Melee, this is so beautiful and fragile and untainted with all those toxins that spoil writing nowadays. so much love for you xxxx

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  6. Joanna: It's so marvelous to hear from you personally! Thank you so much, dearest. It was a good book indeed. :) Oh, good - hopes are one of the best thing to have. :) I hope you're keeping well too! ♥


    haze: I have a fondness for love letters too, which is partially why I wanted to write one. Thank you, my sweet. ♥


    E: Oh, thank you so much, darling! You're lovely. ♥ I hope someone does write you many love letters someday. :)


    Jade: That is such a compliment - that it seems real. Thank you so much. :)

    Oh, they are! They make life so much better. ♥


    Sarah: Hehe, I thought you might like that name. ;)
    Oh, my dearest rose - thank you, thank you! I have quite a bit of love for you meself. :) ♥

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  7. Wow, what a letter! It has so much love packed into it. At first, I thought it was a letter to your muse... but when I got to the ending, I love that it was a husband writing to his wife. I'd love a letter like that.

    Ah! I just added that book to my wish list (as I've spent so much money on books already this break). I'm in love with the 1920's and, consequently, 1930's - those eras have been influential in most of my stories (and the 1900's - 1910's too). I want to know more about these eras without reading something so heavily bogged down by history, if that makes sense. I want more of the atmosphere and daily living details. If you've read any other books you think might be good, please recommend them :)

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  8. That was the most beautiful letter I have ever read.

    "Postscript - Make sure you write your reply in the strongest ink you can find--I always fear I'll fade your words with my constant readings."

    That was just wonderful.
    You always have something new and lovely to for us to read.
    I hope you are well and had an amazing holiday.

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  9. That is lovely! Every word in its place, so much feeling. I wish I had someone to write me such letters.

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  10. CloudyKim: Thank you so much, Kim! I'm so glad you liked it. Hehe, my muse does not deserve such a nice letter. ;)

    Okay, here are some books I thought of; they're all memoirs and mostly set in the 1920's but there's some late 1910's and 1930's overlap: Belles on Their Toes (which is the sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen which I'd also recommend); Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford (her life was so strange it's technically not typical of life back then, but I just love the book and Mitford-lore); and interestingly enough I'd recommend Harpo Speaks! which is the autobiography of Harpo Marx. It's not really about the Marx brothers, so even if you're not a fan of them it should still be interesting. There's probably more, I just can't think of them... Feel free to stalk my goodreads shelf some time. ;)


    Lili: Aww, thank you, dear - thank you so much! Your comment is simply the sweetest. I am very well and did have an amazing holiday - I truly hope you are well too and had an amazing holiday likewise. :)


    Jenica: I've got to admit... I sort of wish I had such a someone as well. :) Thank you very much, my dear.

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  11. This is a beautiful love letter and I find it most cute of you to have written it. You are marvellous! xxx

    p.s.: I hope 2012 has started well for you.

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  12. Aww, shucks! Hehe. Thank you very much, lovely Hannah. :)

    P.S. - It has, I think. :) I hope yours has too!

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  13. I'm glad to hear that those positive feelings are beginning to tingle up your spine once more. The New Year has brought a strange, different, confusing, exciting muddle of things for me so far. Hoping you're well and everything you touch turns to stardust.

    xx and all my love

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  14. What a beautiful love letter, my dear. The postcript especially reminds me of something Z. Fitzgerald would write. Oh, to find a love who could inspire me to write such beautiful words.

    I wish nothing but happiness for you throughout this year. I've got a feeling it's going to be a good one.

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  15. Jhordyn: I hope this strange and new muddle is a good thing, or eventually turns into one. Thank you for the most lovely of comments, darling. Sending much love and snowkisses your way. ♥


    B: Thank you so very much! I think that's the most wonderful comparison someone could make - the letters of Zelda are what made me grow to love her. Wouldn't that be marvellous? Though I'm almost afraid that I'm so used to writing to imaginary people, I wouldn't know what to do with a real person. Rather silly, but there you have it. :)

    I wish the same to you, darling. I think your feeling will prove to be dead on. xx

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  16. hello hello! i just thought i would let you know that i moved towns, and i only just got your letter! so i will get back to you asap :) and i don't update my blog really anymore, but i still come on here to check updates and such :) hope you are well!! xxx

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  17. Oh my goodness, this is so incredibly romantic yet it somehow avoids being even a little bit cliche. (Though I always say that I'm not normally one for love stories, I really absolutely love heartfelt ones like this letter. <3) I especially love this sentence: "I am saving up amusing things to tell you--I've got quite a trove of them now. I suspect, though, when I finally am able to be with you I shall lose them all in the flood of my long awaited happiness."

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  18. gypsy: Hey there! Oh, okay - thanks for letting me know. :) I'm glad it reached you safely, regardless. I hope you're well too, dear!


    Lumina: Thank you, dear! Believe it or not, I'm not really one for love stories either, except the really heartfelt ones too. Thank you for putting my little letter in that category, hehe. ♥

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Silhouettes of a secret. A story told over a cuppa. Or perhaps just sitting on that stone bench, basking in the moonlight... and not saying anything at all.


("I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks." -Shakespeare, Twelfth Night)