I wrote a letter to my mother.
That it hurt me to be the second-best,
To my brother.
I tucked away the note in my bag.
I wrote a letter to my classmate.
When she chose another girl to be her pal,
I slunk away with that hurt.
I tucked away the note in my bag.
I wrote a letter to the boy in the bus.
How his stalking hurt and scared me,
How I found his stare unnerving.
I tucked away the note in my bag.
I wrote a letter to my husband.
How his impatience and neglect hurt me,
That my heart broke multiple times.
I tucked away the note in my bag.
I wrote a letter to my son.
That I would like a conversation or two,
A loving and caring look.
I tucked away the note in my bag.
I lay in bed tired and spent,
My body giving up as did my spirits
It was time for me to bid the world bye,
And I lay there, all the unsent letters lay heavy on my chest.
This blog post is part of ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’
hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla
in collaboration with Ratna Prabha.
16 comments
So many unspoken words , so many unexpressed emotions and hurts , all tucked away silently. It made me ache with sadness.You expressed so much heartache in such few words Chandrika, it is a gift.
The way you gently laid out unspoken words tucked away into bags, silenced by time, was both heartbreaking and beautifully honest.
Letters used to be the medium to express the unspoken words in a very simple and meaningful way. It made communications easy for everyone. But that art of writing letter is lost… as these days people even dont want to write with ink on paper anything.
Heartbreaking. When I go I wish I have nothing unsaid left to say. Happy or sad, feelings have to be shared. Who knows, they might have notes in their bags too?
Very beautifully expressed. All these things that remain unsaid and unsent, and then time dissipates the will.
I ended reading it with a sigh. We cannot say many things, but then there is the art of letter writing. I am glad our kids still write to each other on pen and paper, even in this time of technology.
I really felt the emotion in your “Unsent Letters” piece, you captured that quiet ache of words left unsaid with such clarity. Thanks for sharing something so raw yet beautifully measured.
Ohhhh…this made me sad, Chandrika. If only those letters had found their rightful owners, a lot of misunderstanding could have been removed, maybe.
You took me to tears! Such a poignant poem. You have referred to the closest people around you. I wish I had written one to my son before he left us. I wish we didnt have to tuck them into the bag and just say them out loud before it is too late.
Heartbreaking yet so poetic and intense that these words carry so much depth and rawness!
Such a quietly powerful piece — your words echo the weight of unsent letters, giving voice to so much held inside yet never spoken. Thank you for this.
As a reader I felt the weight of the unspoken words and a lump formed in my throat. How life passes and we accumulate only unspoken emotions. This is a reminder and a sign to speak our heart out rather than regretting later.
This hit like a quiet storm. The ache of all those unsent words is so real. Sometimes the heaviest grief is the one we never give voice to. Beautiful, painful, true.
Those unsent letters… I guess everyone has a pile or two of them. We all have reasons to scribble the notes and not send them out to the person for whom it was written.
This is so heartbreaking and touching I can so very well relate to this.
So beautifully written and so heartbreaking to read. We have all done this, tucked away things deeply felt, but left unsaid. Your post serves as a reminder not to do that again.