A letter by regular mail than a message
Beamed in an instant from screen to screen.
To fold the pages twice and insert them
Into an envelope seems to make them
More of a gift, to wrap them, to suggest
I've chosen my words for you alone,
The very person whose name I've written
In longhand on the envelope I'll carry
To the mailbox at the corner tomorrow morning,
Braving the cold for the early pickup.
I hope you consider the stamp part of the gift,
Not a flag to suggest I back my country
Whatever it does, but the silhouette of a bird
That doubtless appears at your feeder often,
Now that winter is here in earnest.
First-class postage, expressing a faith
I hope you share: that the statements enclosed
Will prove as true three days from now
As they are at this moment, that they represent
Firm convictions, not passing fancies.
And think of the faith my letter expresses
That the world can be relied on to help us,
That others will do their part to move
The letter forward to your address:
Letter gatherers and letter sorters,
Mailbag loaders at the airport, pilots to fly it
over lakes and mountains while the nation below
Goes about its business or lies asleep,
Till the letter rests in the box on your porch.
And because it's a gift, not required by duty
Or courtesy, you can take its sentences
To mean what they seem to mean, expressing
The thoughts of the person I really am
Or at least the person I may become
If I keep practicing, day by day.
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