To R wherever you are

Published on by Laura Bloomsbury

“There is a childlike quality to her expectant eyes”
J.P. Donleavy – The Ginger Man.

Dear Valentine
You did not sign
but yet I know just who you are
from all the other cards
you've sent. Long letters
making school days better
and those novels of Donleavy
kept me feeling free.

And  in the several years there after
your Irish eyes filled us with laughter
but always on the side-lines there
you witnessed heartbreaks, gave such care
your love was constant, quiet, kind
but I was always of one mind
that we could never ever be
joined in love eternally
for wild and wayward
was my nature.

And yet you never strayed away
until my very wedding day.
Dear Valentine I pray you met
a livelong love  - but ever yet
did not forget
your young coquette.

For Sanaa’s poetics prompt: From Your Valentine she gives us 3 options and I took the opportunity to write a poem as love letter

26 thoughts on “To R wherever you are”

  1. This is such a heart-stirring love letter, Laura! I think we all have that one person in our lives that makes an impact. Thank you so much for sharing! 🩷🩷

  3. I was delighted to read the quote from The Ginger Man – I’ve not come across Donleavy in a long time; I read his books in my early twenties. Your Valentine letter resonated with me – my first husband was Irish and he introduced me to Donleavy. A poignant epistolary poem, Laura.

  4. Laura, I think of those nice guys from the past that would have made such perfect husbands, sometimes with regret, but still knowing they were never meant to be, for me. Better that they were hurt on the front end. Like you,

    wild and wayward / was my nature

  5. Oh gosh, Laura, that got me right in the feels as the kids say. Beautifully paced and constructed, your poem suggests an entire history between the letter writer and recipient. It’s so… bittersweet.

    When I was about 20, I read “The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B.” by your JP Donleavy, but I can’t now recall anything about it except the title. I found it in a used bookstore I used to haunt and when I read the title I had to get it. Btw I have added your blog to my side bar if that’s all right.

    1. thank you Shay for being got this way!
      p.s. I began with The ‘Ginger Man’ and loved the books especially those with the alliterative titles!
      p.p.s. honoured to be on your sidebar x

  6. I’m sure many of us have these almost-relationships haunting our past. You’ve captured it so well. Yes, may they have found love, and a joyful life, and may they remember us as we remember them. (K)

  7. This is just so powerful, emtionally as a reader, and such a lovely denouement…..brings me back…even though I wasn’t there..! Such a strong force this romantic nostalgia, and such a good finish.

  9. It’s years since I read Donleavy – I should revisit, just as you have revisited a past love here Laura…

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