Love Letters
March 6, 1997
Sweeter than soft summer winds and the rain
the day on which your first letter came.
Stronger than ropes, knots, and chains
the bonds between us as they changed
from friendly and funny to witty and strange,
from witty to warm, from warm to flames.
Welcome as soft summer wind and rains,
sweeter than southern sunlight on canes,
like songs of homesick Armenian cranes
from wild tales our ancestors tamed
gilded like August light on grains -
the shy words arriving stronger than chains.