A poem on the writing of letters

The other day someone (thanks Chris) posted a quote from John Donne on facebook that said "letters mingle souls". Being a lover of both John Donne's poetry, and of letters, I had to go away and look this up. I certainly concur that there is a particular closeness developed through the writing of letters, though perhaps that depends on the nature of those writing and how they express themselves by that means, and of course it only mingles souls if one receives a letter in return, otherwise reaching out to someone and being ignored only increases the distance, not lessens it. My highschool best friend and I were perhaps a tad ridiculous, in that for a while there we'd go home and write each other letters, after being at school together all day, but I am sure that what was written in those letters was different to what was said in the school common room (aside from the fact that we wrote each other in Runic for some of those letters, and I can't even read them anymore).

But where was I? The rest of John Donne's poem heads off into unexpected places, but I do like this beginning. You can read the rest here. (And how could I not illustrate this with Darcy and Lizzie from the Pride and Prejudice Cozy Classic by Jack and Holman Wang).

TO SIR HENRY WOTTON.

by John Donne

SIR, more than kisses, letters mingle souls,

For thus, friends absent speak. This ease controls

The tediousness of my life; but for these

I could ideate nothing which could please;

But I should wither in one day, and pass

To a bottle of hay, that am a lock of grass.

Life is a voyage, and in our lives' ways

Countries, courts, towns are rocks, or remoras;

They break or stop all ships, yet our state's such,

That though than pitch they stain worse, we must touch.