Tender Is the Night

To tonight's invited guest,

Welcome to the Storm Post Office. This one is an invitation to supper, written on thick wine-colored paper in ornate copperplate English whose long strokes trail off like ribbons. A glossy black lacquer medallion sits at its center, champagne-gold curtains hang down either side with roses engraved at their feet, and a single burnt-orange stage light falls across the page. It is the night before the storm, 1929, and everything is still tender.

A poet once wrote of a night like this: "Already with thee! tender is the night, / And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne." — John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale (1819)

Consider this paper your ticket in. The lamps are lit for you, and the rain is still far off, in no hurry. When you want to write, hand a letter back to us.

Awaiting you,

Storm Post Office

1929 · The Eve of the Storm