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| Photo Credits: jarmoluk |
Dearest Sindbad,
It was a beautiful summer day here. The wind lightly blew the hair from my neck, just enough to cool me off. When I sat back in the chair and closed my eyes, I could only just imagine that it was you softly blowing on my neck and hugging me as the chair did. Not a minute goes by whilst I’m awake that you are not in my thoughts. This beautiful day has succeeded in making me quite sentimental. Thinking of all the months we have been apart from each other makes my heart heavy with pain. Even while I sleep it is you I see behind my lids. But as I fall asleep, with the moon shining through the window, I know that you are there. Although, you are not in front of me, your presence is like a warm blanket or a soft glow from a candle. When I look up at the moon, I know that no matter how far away we are, the moon can see the both of us. Just as I feel your presence, I hope you too feel the adoration I have always felt for you. I only hope that you are to receive this message when you finally arrive at your destination. I will write more as my heart feels the need to speak with you in some way. My love – please return to me. For I can seldom keep myself together anymore. As always, I wish you the safest of travels without perils.
I love you to the moon,
Marina
My sweet Marina,
Do not fret my little bird. For I have reached my destination at last. Soon – my dearest – I will make my way back to you. Do not worry for me. You must look after yourself for me while I am not there by your side. I do wish it were me, holding you so sweetly in my arms as the sun sets behind the tree line. It must be that I have yet to see the sun in weeks. The clouds are constantly looming over me. It must be because I am not with you. The sky reflects the way I feel this moment. A depressed and dark creature I am without my wife by my side. The crew men do not understand the perils I have with leaving you. There is nothing worse than a man who does not understand these things. For they cannot understand why the ocean does not excite me like it used to. For when I am on the ocean, I am away from you and this is always my biggest regret. I only wish for this voyage to end so that I can hold you in my arms once more. There is only so much left of the journey and I will write when I can. For now, though, enjoy the little flowers you planted outside our bedroom window and the smell of the pines that encompass our house like a wool blanket. The voyage has been rough thus far but nothing that would keep me away from you. There is something stronger than us that binds you and I together.
All of my love,
Sindbad
Author’s Note:
For this story I created a wife for Sindbad the sailor from the Seven Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor. In the stories he was always going on voyages to dangerous places. Instead of focusing on his adventures, I focused on the “woman he left behind”. I have always enjoyed reading love letters. Although it seems like they have died out recently and have the stigma of being cheesy or not manly. This is mainly the fault of technology but it has been kicked out of our culture for the most part. Sindbad always came home at the end of his voyages, without injury and with a lot of money. I tried to write this story from the perspective of someone other than the main character to make it more dimensional.
The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).
Wow, I loved that.. It was so dreamy!! I really like your take on the story, I never would have thought to create a wife and do a passing of love letters. I applaud you for your creative technique and doing something different then the average paragraph format. Your story was detailed very well, so well I could picture the story being read by both characters. While you said in the authors note that Sindbad always makes it home safely from his voyages, what if he didn't make it home one day? You could continue this story of how Marina overcomes the death of her husband and her starts living as a widow. Overall, really really great story!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your writing style. This was so cool for me. I just read another story that also used Sinbad as inspiration and their story was vastly different. Each of you wrote amazing stories. It is fascinating how two people can read the same story and invision something different. I loved the discription of the love letters. I look forward to reading more for you throughout the semester.
ReplyDeleteI really love the way that you made your stories a series of letters. Not only do you tell the story of the voyage buy you also give an insight into how Sinbad’s wife felt while he was gone on his journeys. You also opened it up to Sinbad’s feelings. That gives the story a little bit more character and makes it a little more interesting. I look forward to reading more of your stories!
ReplyDeleteThis was great! It adds a whole new aspect to SInbad's stories! I would have never thought to write about the woman he has left behind. This is so creative. The way you wrote the letters and your wording really adds to the immersive feel of them. Instead of reading them myself, I felt as if I was listening to someone read them to me. It was very dreamy. Great job on this story.
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