"Sweetheart:
The snappiest dance music is coming from W.H.O and I'm tapping my foot and imagining I'm dancing with you. There's a big dance in Newton tonight and I'd planned to go- had promised to go with T__ and V___ and take a girl friend of theirs- but after I'd talked to you I decided I'd rather stay home and write this.
You sounded so dear this noon- do you know how long we talked? I took one look at the ticket and slipped it in my pocket. I'd have given anything to have been talking from Cedar Rapids as you thought. Somehow talking to you makes you seem so much more real- but like a dream. I think if the train hadn't gone I'd have been awfully tempted to jump it and take the consequences. Dear, I love you so, it seems sometimes that I couldn't stay another minute. When I get my confounded debts paid and am at my regular job where I'll have Saturday afternoons off- I'll come more often. "Everything come to he who waits" Sometimes I wonder.
About M___. I said I was glad you were going with him, first because I like hime very much and believe he is a real gentleman. Then many of the fellows at the house were doubtful about him at rushing time- afraid he wouldn't fit into campus life. I fought for him and got him and am anxious for him to get in with the right people. He is and I think my point has been proven to the fellows.
But please don't go with him merely because I recommended him- and don't dare fall in love with him. You're not to fall in love until you fall for me, get it?
I'm all excited at the prospect of seeing D__ K and his wife- D is one of my closest Coe friends. He is teaching at Malcolm and we probably will go there to do some work next week. I talked fast to get to go but I think I'll make it.
Dear, this week-end will be truly a blue one for me. No homecoming for me- but remember my heart is there. Take good care of it.
Jean, I can't help but feat that something will happen to us- I've seen so many romances go on the rocks when people were separated- particularly when one was still in school. But I love and I hope and pray- surely happiness must lie just ahead-
"For the heart which has truly loved never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close-
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same smile that she turned when he rose"
And I love You - truly
Bob"
Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms
by Thomas Moore (1478 – 1535)
"Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly to-day,
Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms,
Live fairy-gifts fading away,
Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will,
And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still.
It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,
And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,
That the fervor and faith of a soul may be known,
To which time will but make thee more dear!
No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close,
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she turned when he rose!"
Thomas Moore and his wife were preceded in death by all five of their children. His poetry and faith were tested to his core and imbue his poetry with that emotion. While away in Bermuda attending to business for four years, his wife contracted small pox and though she survived, her face was disfigured. When Moore returned his wife was reluctant to let him see her, concerned how he would react to her appearance and wanting him to remember her as she was before. Moore sat down and penned the poem above to let her know that his love for her was unchanged.
This is a poem that has been set to music for so long it is hard to separate one from the other, the tune from the verse. To all lovers, young and old alike, may your love last through the vagaries of life and may you see the beauty in each other, now and forever.