Intro #
I wrote this letter in Spanish first and translated to English years later. I’ve put both versions below.
Original (Spanish) #
Futuro Amor,
Te escribo para decirte que por el momento no existís más que como un sentimiento
en lo profundo de mi ser que no tiene a qué ni a quién apegarse.
Te dejo saber que te amo sin conocerte.
Te busco sin saber dónde estás.
Te espero sin saber a qué hora vendrás.
Tené cuidado en el camino.
Y si no alcanzo verte en esta vida, moriré sabiendo que soy capaz deste
amor profundo. Para mientras, y durante esta espera, me prepararé; quiero ser
el amor de tu vida.
Te abrazo sin alzar mis brazos,
te huelo sin que esté tu perfume,
te siento cerca aunque no haya nadie.
Me despido sin decirte adiós,
Jerry S
Translation (English) #
Future Love,
I’m writing to you because for the time being you don’t exist more than as a feeling in the depths of my being that has not what nor whom to latch onto.
I love you without knowing you yet.
I search for you without knowing where to look.
I wait for you without knowing when you’ll arrive.
Be careful on the way.
And if I don’t manage to see you in this life, I’ll die knowing that I’m
capable of this deep love. In the meantime, and while I wait, I’ll ready myself;
I want to be the love of your life.
I hug you without lifting my arms,
I smell you without a hint of your perfume,
I feel you near with no one around.
I say goodbye and utter not a sound,
Jerry S
Inspiration Revealed #
My muses inspire me when I write.
Your muses inspire you when you read.
Below I choose to disclose the inspirations and interpretations of my own poems.
Maybe our muses told us some of the same things. Read on below if you really want to find out.
Inspiration & Backstory #
During a period in my life that is more than a lifetime ago, I was contemplating love like all writers do. It’s one of the easiest apples to pick from the tree of things you can write about.
I’ve been in deep love and can recall that sensation vividly. Maybe it’s a compass to be led by, or maybe it’s a false north star leading me astray, but I have it in me and can summon it up if I focus on it.
From that feeling burst this letter.
It’s a highly romanticized letter, in my opinion, and it’s unrealistic because Love doesn’t last the way we imagine it does or the way we want it to. There is science and human experience behind that; best not to fight it.
For me, the letter captures many things.
It captures looking to the empty seat next to me while I drive my car, and the swell in my heart as I smile because at one point in the future it could become occupied.
It captures what it feels like to smell hints of a perfume that I have never smelled.
It captures the sensation of giving a hug so comforting to a person whose name is unknown and isn’t present to receive it; a hug from arms that I don’t even have to lift to feel like I’ve given it.
It captures a soundless goodbye to a presence whose owner I haven’t yet met; a shadow with no caster.
This sensation of deep love will pass until the next time I surface it again.