The nearest book to hand for me was"The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson". On page 237 - there is a cute poem in which she addresses a letter she has written to an unnamed person.

I decided to try and catch some of the feel of the original while putting it firmly into a 21st C. context.

#neglected12string Original poem by Emily Dickinson is #494 in that collection.

It originally had three verses, but I hadn't time for another. I already started late.

Here is the original Going to him! Happy letter! Tell him – Tell him the page I didn’t write; Tell him I only said the syntax, And left the verb and the pronoun out. Tell him just how the fingers hurried, Then how they waded, slow, slow, slow; And then you wished you had eyes in your pages, So you could see what moved them so.

Tell him it wasn’t a practised writer, You guessed, from the way the sentence toiled; You could hear the bodice tug, behind you, As if it held but the might of a child; You almost pitied it, you, it worked so. Tell him – No, you may quibble there, For it would split his heart to know it, And then you and I were silenter.

Tell him night finished before we finished, And the old clock kept neighing ‘day!’ And you got sleepy and begged to be ended – What could it hinder so, to say? Tell him just how she sealed you, cautious, But if he ask where you are hid Until to-morrow, – happy letter! Gesture, coquette, and shake your head!

Intro: (F) (G) (Am)

(Am) Oh short and sweet WhatsApp I just (G) wrote You're (Em) for a lass on whom I long to (Am) dote Tell her this is not what I meant to (G) say Though the (Em) grammar I believe is quite O(Am)K The (F) verbs I needed wouldn't come to my (C) mind So I (G) used some that auto correct de(Am)fined My (F) hurried fingers sometimes missed a (C) beat While (G) thoughts slowed down as a biscuit I did (Am) eat

It's a (Em) pity that pages have no (Am) eyes To (Em) let her know what's truth and what is (Am) lies But (F) if she reads you and she gives a (C) sigh Then she'll (G) know that I'll be with her (Am) by and by

(Am) I'm not much of an author, that I (G) know But you'll (Em) see that when you read the junk I (Am) wrote But the effort I put in you'll never (G) see I'm a (Em) bit of a letdown romantical(Am)ly She must (F) read between the lines to know my (C) heart If she (G) smiles at my crap poetry that's a (Am) start So (F) fly oh Whatsapp at the speed of (C) light For my (G) loves alone with silence here to(Am)night

It's a (Em) pity that pages have no (Am) eyes To (Em) let her know what's truth and what is (Am) lies But (F) if she reads you and she gives a (C) sob You'll know (G) happily that you have done your (Am) job