Who Wrote It? Love Letter from Lili to Emily Left at Bookshop

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Someone in the world named Lili wrote a lengthy message to a loved one named Emily not all that long ago on a piece of blue construction paper. The letter, intensely personal, ended up wedged into a hardback collection of photographs in a Massachusetts bookstore.

Whether the letter signifies love lost, love sought or love simply forgotten is a mystery.

A mystery that staff at the shop, the two-story Brookline Booksmith, would like to solve.

On Friday they looked for help using perhaps one of the least romantic venues in the universe: Twitter.

“It seems like the writer was trying really hard to find [Emily], “ a staff member of the shop told Patch, who — in the spirit of the mystery — remains anonymous. “It also looks like it was written within the last 10 years.”

The shop keeps track of whatever it finds in the used books it buys from the public. Everything from article cut-outs to photographs are featured on the Find of the Week tab of its website.

According to the Boston Globe, “Lili,” the writer, references a trip to Venice. The undated letter, which is written in print, was found in a copy of Gilles Mora’s black-and-white photography book “Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye.” The letter also quotes the poem “Ode on Melancholy” by John Keats.

The Brookline Booksmith staff won’t reveal more about the letter as it is deemed too personal. But the below “Ode to Melancholy” excerpt, which is from the Poetry Foundation website, may or may not provide clarity regarding what Lili was attempting to convey:

She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight

Perhaps the subjects in question had a tumultuous romance or maybe it was a storied friendship that went awry. What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below.