Ev'n so, with all submission, I
. . . .
Send you each year a homely letter,
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Ev'n so, with all submission, I
. . . .
Send you each year a homely letter,
Who may return me much a better.

I have only made this letter rather long because I have not had
time to make it shorter.
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I have only made this letter rather long because I have not had
time to make it shorter.
[Fr., Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parceque je n'ai pas
eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.]

Heav'n first taught letters for some wretch's aid,
Some banish'd lover, or some captive maid.

Heav'n first taught letters for some wretch's aid,
Some banish'd lover, or some captive maid.

A strange volume of real life in the daily packet of the postman.
Eternal love and instant payment!

A strange volume of real life in the daily packet of the postman.
Eternal love and instant payment!

Thy letter sent to prove me,
Inflicts no sense of wrong;
No longer wilt thou love me,--
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Thy letter sent to prove me,
Inflicts no sense of wrong;
No longer wilt thou love me,--
Thy letter, though is long.

Letters, from absent friends, extinguish fear,
Unite division, and draw distance near;
Their magic force each silent read more

Letters, from absent friends, extinguish fear,
Unite division, and draw distance near;
Their magic force each silent wish conveys,
And wafts embodied though, a thousand ways:
Could souls to bodies write, death's pow'r were mean,
For minds could then meet minds with heav'n between.

Every day brings a ship,
Every ship brings a word;
Well for those who have no fear,
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Every day brings a ship,
Every ship brings a word;
Well for those who have no fear,
Looking seaward well assured
That the word the vessel brings
Is the word they wish to hear.

Belshazzar had a letter,--
He never had but one;
Belshazzar's correspondence
Concluded and begun
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Belshazzar had a letter,--
He never had but one;
Belshazzar's correspondence
Concluded and begun
In that immortal copy
The conscience of us all
Can read without its glasses
On revelation's wall.

And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the
king's ring, and sent letters by read more

And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the
king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders
on mules, camels, and young dromedaries: . . . .
So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, being
hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. And the
decrees was given at Shushan the palace.