A Veteran's Day Offering....

I wrote these words a few years ago, but I think they hold up with the passing of time....

The Letter

She sat slumped over the kitchen table
The crumpled letter in her hand
It was written by her husband, serving
In a far off foreign land
He wrote of battles fought and won
The bravery of his men
How yesterday they had shot and cooked
Some scrawny desert hen
His dreams and hopes of returning soon
And plans to settle down
After twenty-six years of army moves
Like gypsies, town-to-town

She looked up and across the table
At the major standing there
All dressed up in his army greens
Refusing to take a chair
She heard the words he shared with her
Those her mind would not accept
If she let those words get through as truth
She would have broken down and wept
No, she had his letter here in her hand
He promised to be home soon
After twenty years of deployed delays
They would have their honeymoon

The ugly irony of it hit her then
And her face turned ashen gray
For today was November Eleventh
America’s “Veteran’s Day”

Nov 2006

(Pecozbill)