Love Poem No.11

I got you a Hallmark card. The sentiment will do. I guess. Maybe.
No, it really won’t. They try their best but I can’t shake the question:
why in god’s name would I allow someone who knows nothing of you
to say words around which our thoughts might revolve on this day
when I and countless others celebrate the wonder of your life?
This is the day you were born, and if you hadn’t drawn breath back
then our children would still be formless and void somewhere in
the mind of God. And me? Well, knowing me I would probably be
married but she’d know my heart wasn’t in it, she’d see there was
someone else I was always looking for in crowds or at the fourth of
July parade, someone I’d prayed for on my knees since I was a little
boy but the prayer went unheard, someone I was supposed to meet
but never did. If that were the story then I would live in labored
grief, possibly making a killing writing sentiments for Hallmark.
 
Happy birthday, Meredith.
 

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12 Comments

  1. Melinda Viergever Inman on May 29, 2013 at 1:40 pm

    Beautiful! I’m guessing your wife loved this more than any card you could have purchased. Though, one does have to ponder the betterment of Hallmark had you never met your wife. We could be purchasing your sentiments for public consumption. The entire romantic world could have been blessed. But, alas, you did meet your wife. It’s our loss, your gain. As it is, I thank you for sharing your private words to her.

    • thebeautifuldue on May 30, 2013 at 1:31 am

      Thank you, Melinda. Maybe Hallmark will give me a call some day…

  2. Robert Benson on May 29, 2013 at 2:44 pm

    Beautiful, my friend, beautiful.

    Sent from my iPhone

  3. Diana Trautwein on May 30, 2013 at 5:26 am

    Exactly. You are blessed – and so is she. Thanks.

  4. Sallie on May 30, 2013 at 1:45 pm

    Your heart is too deep for Hallmark, John. Thank you for taking us into those deepest places that feel foreign at first, but then we recognize anew that they are truly ‘home’.

    • thebeautifuldue on June 1, 2013 at 2:26 pm

      Thanks, Sallie. ‘Home’ just might be my favorite word these days…

  5. Anne Bethea on May 30, 2013 at 1:56 pm

    Beautiful. This is a gratitude I live with. Thank you for sharing this.

  6. wynnegraceappears on May 30, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    If you wrote for Hallmark you’d change the greeting card industry. Maybe you are just what they need after all. Thank you for sharing your heart and voice with us. I feel among the privileged, we followers of your words.

    • thebeautifuldue on June 1, 2013 at 2:28 pm

      Elizabeth, thank you for taking the time to respond, and for your kind words.

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