Second Prize winner of the 5th Occasional Geist Erasure Poetry Contest.

You are most dear to me.

My life had been such that I never before had seen anyone whom I loved.

Of what value was life?

I forgot all.

Full of care, I felt less able than ever to understand people.

Then, you were there.

So now—

Endure,

Listen, question, wonder.

Work.

Be the bright light.

See it all.

You are a natural—

A gifted detective.

You have made life in this land less painful.

(I could not have said it had it not been for you.)

The Erasure Text for the 5th Occasional Geist Erasure Poetry Contest is an excerpt from A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder, by James De Mille, published by Harper & Brothers in 1888.