To the women in my life:

This missive is a bit different

A bit different because

My words impress on this paper a little softer

A little softer, but only as soft as diamonds

But are expansive; imbued with power

I began this knowing little of what my words meant

Till I did; till I knew

That how much I knew of women

Was so little

And is still very little

But to have come to know the women in my life

I've come to know—that all I know is:—

How much I admire you

How much you have taught me

Teaching me: To be a better man

And not just better, but more cognizant

Cognizant of the hideousness of our world

And to make my mind be less bent and less warped

And teaching me: The world's hideousness enveloping it

The rot of the world that must be un-enveloped:

All of its damnèd core, flesh, and hell

This is to the women in my life

Who, as soft as diamonds

Have pierced the mind of my own very old world

— M.M.