Long Wardecember Poems

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.