For Louise, and then Eddy

Lest I never see you more and this letter is all that finds you — I bid you know I died blessing you. Though I extend my love, my heart is heavy with fear. Not for my life which is all but lost, but for my Eddy. I have caught the smell of wine in his kisses. Darling...be a friend to him. Do not forsake my poor Eddy — lest his unhappiness and misfortune take him prematurely. Now, for my Heart, my Life, my Eddy — Remember your words to me: “Keep up your heart in all hopefulness, and trust yet a little longer.” Dearest, I will never never leave you. Though I may be removed from this world with its sin and care, I will persist as your guardian angel, and what gifts you have given me I will return tenfold. Yet when you cannot trust in me, trust instead in yourself. No man alive has ever had such capacity for love, devotion, and persistence in this uncongenial, unsatisfactory, and ungrateful life as you. Continue — if not for me, then for you. Heaven bless you, for you have given life in death to your darling little wife, Virginia E. Poe