Dear cousin, much I cannot say

Is written here to send away

With heartfelt hope that when you read

You find here something you may need.

What distant music I have heard

As I have copied word and word

Is strangely new and hard to tell

But walls went down and skies fell

And far away like old bells rung

I heard the songs that I had sung

When I was ignorant and alone

Take on a quiet overtone.

I heard the sound I hoped to make

When songs were made for the singing's sake

By heart and eye too full to tell

Whether or not they made them well.

By giving you these lines, you give

Me back the breath by which I live,

The thoughts I cannot say, well said,

And poems dancing in my head.