Back To Her
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This is also for my English Creative Writing class. It is autobiographical, about my wife Nelly and I. The firecrackers popping overhead were from the 200th anniversary of Bastille Day in 1989. "Boulot" is a French slang word for 'job'; I used to call her at work from Kirchberg during my lunch hour while stationed in West Germany. As it was during the Cold War, it took a while to get permission from the Army, but we got married in Paris. I was with the UN in Macedonia, just south of Kosovo, and worked intelligence missions as a translator during the Balkans conflicts. I spent a year in Mosul, Iraq, helping retrain an Iraqi Infantry battalion's intelligence section.
After the Sunday service, searching back to her
For a date. He will soon be walking back to her.
Bottle rockets popping over the Sacre Coeur.
She suddenly kissed him; he then leaning back to her.
Leave ending, the soldier takes the Gare de l’Est train.
Just outside, from his window, waving back to her.
She travels east by train. He travels south by train.
A weekend in Strasbourg, him meeting back to her.
“Hey! You have another letter. What did he say?”
She reads aloud. He’s always writing back to her.
Five-mark coins clank in the West German phone.
“Je t’aime” heard at her “boulot”; calling back to her.
The Army okayed it. His mother flew over.
Her father was there for the wedding back to her.
First residence in Sohren. First of two munchkins,
Playing under a chair, then crawling back to her.
All night in the post’s delivery room,
Holding her hand. Love sending back to her.
TDYs learning Serbo-Croatian
Through Germany commuting back to her.
Yugoslavia dies as a nation -
U. N. Peace Keeper writing back to her
From Operation Iraqi Freedom
Telephoning, emailing back to her
Now a civilian, travels behind him,
He’s always nearby, staying back to her
Commuting between Monterey and Salinas,
Both approaching retirement, driving back to her.
The Warrior Poet and his wife walk the old dog.
“Hurry Bella.” “Come on girl.” Whistling back to her.
Copyright © Mark J. Halliday | Year Posted 2021
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