A Mother's Goodbye

A Mother's Goodbye She clutched the triangular fold of white stars on a blue field as she stood on the hallowed ground. She sang dolefully, with a reverence that shaped the tremulous tone of her weary, aging voice. Her song was thinned by despair yet was thickened by the memory of all the years of his youth. The words drifted on her voice like curling leaves on the water of a swirling, muddy creek. The damp forest absorbed the resonance of her lyrics, as if fearing an echo might offend. When her song ended its mournful cry was answered by the plaintive trill of a meadowlark. She knelt and touched the stone marking her warrior's place in eternity, and whispered goodbye to her son.