Letter from Stephen

My dearest lady, 

I get the number 31 bus from the stop nearest to my home and ride the 35 minutes down to Princes Street, where I get off and head up Lothian Road towards the Usher Hall, which I pass and brace myself to see the first glimpse of you, the pale beauty that adorns Grindlay Street.  I had begun to accept your imperfections long ago and concentrate on what is essentially you. 

As I see your face, I feel the first flush of anticipation and excitement of what is about to unfold. I enjoy the comforts you provide for me as I accept your warm embrace. We share something. We share a ritual that is as old as humanity, a gathering toward a common purpose, you seduce me with promise, with delight and with mental and physical stimulation. I am born and reborn, I am pulled and stretched, I feel love and I feel hate, I am transported to places I could never have been or can go. I cry and I laugh as you play with my emotions and when it all ends, and I make the journey back home, on my bus, I bask in the pleasure that has been, and which will return again when we next meet like lovers in a tryst.  You see you make my life worth living. 

 I miss you, and I will wait for you, like all those other lovers you have. 

 Love, you see, like a cough, can never be hidden or denied. 

Stephen Dunn

Tags: From Audience