You never liked to get
The letters that I sent.
But now you've got the gist

Of what my letters meant.
You're reading them again,
The ones you didn't burn.

You press them to your lips,
My pages of concern.
I said there'd been a flood.

I said there's nothing left.
I hoped that you would come.
I gave you my address.

Your story was so long,
The plot was so intense,
It took you years to cross

The lines of self-defense.
The wounded forms appear:
The loss, the full extent;

And simple kindness here,
The solitude of strength.
You walk into my room.

You stand there at my desk,
Begin your letter to
The one who's coming next.