DEAR NELLA

Come back.  You can't know
How it is with Siglund, all the cornfields
Gone and the bee hives,
The creek pasture wrecked by the storm.
He can't do it, Nella.
He can't fix it all.
Alban never came back
From town so there's nobody here
But Siglund and me.  I'm learning to cook
But Siglund doesn't eat much
And doesn't go to grange.
He says he has to be somebody else.
He spends his time 
Thinning cabbages, tying up bean plants, 
Figuring in his big books. At night
He plays those records of yours,
The German waltzes 
And those Russian things.
I used to dance but now
It doesn't seem right.
Nella, you left your carnelian pin.
Siglund said to keep it
But I'm saving it for
When you come home.
Love, Josie

		Lucille Murphy