Lily
She had lived for ninety years.
Life had been a patchwork of promises;
some kept, many broken, all remembered.
Born one cold December morning when
the world dared to dream again.
Wicked war won at inexcusable cost;
thousands lost; gone and never to return.
A lesson learned? Not for long it seems.
They met while still at school.
Young love. First promise; he said he'd
make her his wife, spend his life in pursuit
of her happiness and they glowed with the
innocent flush of youthful exuberance.
Then he left her when the call to battle came.
He died on a beach in 1940 and she became
a widow before being a bride, and she cried,
inside and out for the rest of her days.
A faded photograph on her locker and in
her memory a youthful kiss, a lifetime missed,
for her heart died too with the loss of him.
She never married, carrying her grief to the grave.
Her sister had a son, a soldier too, and he survived.
A promise kept, but his son went to Afghanistan,
and was killed by the Taliban. Thankfully Lily never knew.
Broken promise at twenty two; he left a sweetheart
who wears his ring. They had a home, and hope of
happiness, all lost in the explosion of destruction.
Lessons learned? I don't think so, as soldiers die
and their women cry. All Lily's life languishing
in loss, and many more now count the cost.
And a baby cries; born one cold December morn'.
He sees his mother cry for she is grieving
for a father he will never know.......
and so it goes on, and so and so and so.
Copyright © Helen J Radford | Year Posted 2009
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