From The Lady To Her Lover....

Art "The Gates Of Dawn"
By Herbert James Draper


My Dear General,

From hence forth you will be known to me as “My General” for in my humble estimation, no man,even one as great as General Jackson, could possibly be more worthy than you to be promoted to such a high rank. Perhaps you have already been advanced to that office while our letters languish, God only knows where, for weeks at a time before our eyes and hearts glory and warm in the fire of their loving words.

It was already December when your letter arrived, the coldest Carolina Winter I can remember. Freezing nights and gray days. Harbingers of more darkness to come before the light of peace finally dawns.

Wounded, Oh My Darling I cannot bear the thought of you lying there in pain so far from me and my healing hands. I long to caress and kiss each hateful wound that has marred your proud chest. I thought to have the carriage loaded with my needs and with what food I could find and some of those cigars and cognac you are so fond of. Yes I still have the cigars and cognac hidden in a place the Yankees shall never find them, should they ever ransack the house. I’m saving them for you along with “other” more pleasurable vices you seem to be addicted to. I could be there within a reasonable carriage ride, or at most several weeks since I would have to carefully travel avoiding the main roads. The marauding Yankees and even some of our Confederate deserters pose a threat to a Southern lady, her maid and carriage-man. If we should be discovered by the wrong party it would be dangerous or even deadly.

It has been so long since you penned your letter to me, perhaps you are better now and no longer at Charlotte’s hospital. Where are you My Love, what is happening to you now? All I can do is pray that you are safe and not in pain. Find a way to notify me where you are as quickly as possible. If you are still ill and need me I will brave hell and high water to be at your side in your time of need.

The days are so long, the nights unending with you so far away. Even the breath of a breeze between us is too much distance. I am enclosing in this letter one of my white lace gloves, scented with my jasmine perfume. I would have sent a more personal item of clothing but with the mail as uncertain as it seems to continue to be, I would not want my intimate laces to fall into the hands of any man other than the one I love. Soon enough, soon enough My Brave Warrior , all my laces will fall surrendered at your feet.

The servants ( I will not call them slaves for I’ve always hated the word and the condition) have left to embrace their freedom. Only a few trusted house workers remain. There will be no cotton or tobacco next year, only stubble in the fields and perhaps even the fields will no long be mine to claim. I am resigned to it Dear General. I have enjoyed the beauty of this life, the affluence, the genteel charm.... but beauty bought at the expense of other’s freedom and lives and the blood of our brave soldiers can no longer be considered beautiful. What is beautiful is the love we share and the future we can build together wherever and in whatever condition we might find ourselves.

Write to me at every opportunity, I pine for your words and your touch. I live for the day your large war-worn hands unbutton the bodice of my lavender silk and your lips once again claim both gentle hills of your home.

The candle burns low now, sleep calls but my four poster will be so desolate without you there...I need you tonight. Come back to me, before the magnolias bloom again. My prayers are protecting you, my love is surrounding you, Sweet Conqueror Of My Heart. I wait for you at the Gates Of Dawn

Your Loving Captive



2/11/2008 La Belle Rouge

“Poetry, Soul Whispers”

Music "I Need You Tonight"