13 August 2025

Love poems to the dead

 


All the people I had sensual
love with are dead—both lovers and non-
lovers who shared in my heart.  So,
I wouldn’t be able to stay here after
death like Andrea Gibson writes in
“Love Letter from the Afterlife.” I’ve
no one to touch.  Instead, I write love poems
to the dead.  And in death, would we be
reunited?  I don't believe in that kind of afterlife. 
Alive, I have poems.  Love stays near me in
poems, letters, photos, and memories. 
Tears come.  And smiles.  I want
to hug all of them and converse for hours. 
I wish to be moss under their trees, a tree
over their moss.  I sighed reading “Love Letters,”
grieved that I had no one alive to write
a love letter to, worried that I’ve been too
closed to love, too invulnerable
for health.  And I don’t know.  I'd like to
find out, but not enough to pursue it.


For Sherry's prompt "Love Letter from the Afterlife" at What's Going On? 

 

My blog poems are rough drafts.
Please respect my copyright.
© 2025 Susan L. Chast


7 comments:

  1. Sumana Roy8/13/2025 2:37 AM

    "Love stays near me in
    poems, letters, photos, and memories.
    Tears come. And smiles."... This is the song of life, so beautifully told, Susan. And so relatable. "I wish to be moss under their trees, a tree / over their moss." Aww. The lines seem to be a niche where love and beauty dwell together and where we return again and again.

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  2. Mary8/13/2025 9:25 AM

    I had not read Sumana's comment, but the same words struck me: "Love stays near me in
    poems, letters, photos, and memories. " However, I would like to add...you have a blessed and rich life if you have these poems, letters, photos, and memories. Not everyone does.

    " I'd like to find out, but not enough to pursue it ." Gut level honesty here! And in response, I would say....never say never, and there is still time!

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  3. Sherry Blue Sky8/13/2025 10:54 AM

    Susan, this poem resonates for me. Love hurt too much, and i chose solitude. But we get to remember, and to love the world, through our poems. My online poet friends mean the world to me and i am grateful for you all. Mary said it so well....your life has been rich indeed. Mine too.

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  4. Kim M. Russell8/13/2025 11:25 AM

    I love the idea of writing love poems to the dead, Susan, and I agree with these lines:
    ‘Alive, I have poems. Love stays near me in
    poems, letters, photos, and memories.’

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  5. Marja8/14/2025 1:41 AM

    Love stays near me in
    poems, letters, photos, and memories. Yes love lingers and is most tangible in there. "I wish to be moss under their trees, a tree over their moss. " That's so beautiful and yes I feel I often have been too closed too love as well. My husband was a present from the universe. I didn't get that boyfriend thing right and when I was about 29 I asked the universe Please if you want to give me one thing than please give me someone to spend my life with. Within a week my husband appeared :)

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  6. Intelliblog8/14/2025 8:48 PM

    Yes, Susan, love lingers, it remains within us and stays in our memory, in our heart in our soul. When those whom we love leave us be they dead or alive, we do still have them within us, as you say. Poems help, but also try writing a love letter to yourself, as though it were from someone that you lost. It often reflects your love for them too... It may help - it did help me.

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  7. Jim8/15/2025 1:47 PM

    Well, I wouldn't call it love for my experience. After 13 years of marriage she jilted me for a younger student of hers. I lost trust, of course of her, but in WOMEN for three years until I was FOUND at a singles dinner by my wife now of 52 years. I went along gingerly but it turned out soooo very good for us. My first wife? She finally stayed with her fourth husband. The student was a looser and not good for our four children.

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