Dad who never wrote anything 'creative' in his life pens the most heartbreaking poem for late wife

Poetry is a form of self-expression that heightens and beautifies the intensity of emotion a person feels. Anyone can write poetry, as long as they have inspiration. Writer, teacher, and poet Joseph Fasano (@Joseph_Fasano_), penned a book of poetry prompts to initiate people into writing poems. Recently, he posted a tweet with the screengrab of an email he received. The email contains a poem a man wrote to his late wife, inspired by a prompt in Fasano’s book. Thousands of people are expressing awe at the beautiful emotion captured in his words.

A person had emailed him a poem that their dad wrote after getting inspired by “The Magic Words,” Fasano’s book of poetry prompts. In the email, the person wrote that their dad “has never written anything ‘creative’ in his life.” They revealed that their mom, who worked as a librarian, passed away recently. So, they gave their dad a copy of Fasano’s book, after reading which, he penned a poem dedicated to his late wife.

The heart-wrenching poem read:

“I miss your smell of honey

I miss your voice like good rivers

I miss your hands like all the books

I never got to open

But I know that living means opening

And I want to live, I want to open

And you, love, I want you to be there

In every story

Go, be in every story.”

Fasano expressed his love for the heartfelt poem in the caption of the post, writing, “Still the greatest email ever. Humans for the win.” @meteroid404 commented on the poem saying they loved it, “It goes to show that poetry is not exclusive to poets. It is the sincerity of the feeling that gives magic to the words.” Fasano also wrote a comment saying, “I love the grace of letting go, which is love.”

Also, in the comment section, Katniss Evergreen (@mind_fullvsful) wrote that they, too, used the same prompt from Fasano's book, to write a poem after their mom passed away. Their poem read:

“I miss your chatter in the evenings

I miss your voice like rays of sunshine

I miss your presence like sweet

Songbirds chirping at dawn

But I know living means blossoming

And I want to live, I want to grow

And you, I want you to be the peaceful

Breeze playing in the garden

I love you, mom

Peaceful breeze playing in the garden.”

Fasano wrote in his book’s introduction that he was first inspired to write this prompt book after he was invited to speak with a class of second graders at an event in New Jersey. He was supposed to teach them about the craft and magic of poetry. “I developed a prompt that could help these young people unlock the images, thoughts, and feelings inside them, without asking them to worry about how to structure a poem.” The results, he said, were astonishing. Seven-and-eight-year-olds were churning beautiful poems from their imaginations and their everyday lives.

He started sharing some of the poems from these kids on his social media. Thousands of people reached out to him saying that they were using these prompts to overcome their struggles with language, self-expression, verbal communication, and overwhelming feelings. As he curated these prompts into a full-fledged book, the book got out and currently, is known as a wonderful resource to unlock the deepest emotions for people who would never call themselves “poets.”