A Letter Poem by Thomas Bates

after only several heartfelt letters,
it's been a joy
to know you better.
thoughtful words of wisdom
and advice -
courageous images
and words of seductive persuasion...
(pencil-penned words of care
from a woman familiar
with the loss
of carefree, uninhibited
abandonments of passion.)

you say that your eyes
are of a near sea-hued blue;
i imagine them piercing through
everyday conventions,
both
filling me in
in just a few seconds
the magnitude of being you.
but that's just my imagination, I'm guessing.
when I see you at last
in person,
I'll know if I created something false
out of the beauty of understanding you, truly.
you recognized my hopes of being found out -
i was further out in the ocean,
my words nearly drowned out.