One woman's story

Over 20 years
Spent in community care
Changing lives for the better
Many stories I hear

I'll never forget
I was at work one day
I met an old lady
With nothing to say

Every morning I went
I'd knock on the door
I'd put on the kettle
She wouldn't let me do more

But slowly and surely
My smile warmed her heart
Then one magic day
Her story she did start

She took me right back
To when she was a teen
A prisoner of war
in a concentration camp she'd been

She told of atrocities
From long long ago
When a mad man slaughtered millions
Why? We'll never know

As she remembered her story
every little detail she told
Things so traumatic
that would leave you ice cold

Things of such horrors
I couldn't bring myself to say
Evil you couldn't imagine
That still haunt me to this day

Her eyes then lit up
at a picture she gazed
A handsome fine soldier
The connection I soon made

I was told she was a widow
Her husband had just died
She didn't want to be here
I held her tight as she cried

She went on to tell
About a day she'll never forget
Laying on a concrete floor
Beaten, starving and half dead

A British soldier walked up
And knelt down by her side
he took one look at her
And he started to cry

He then scooped her up
And carried her in his arms
Quietly praying
And quoting some psalms

In hospital he visited
As much as he could
She told of a man of such honour
So noble and good

She was put on a ship
It was then they lost touch
It was then that she realised
That she loved him so much

But he didn't give up
When demobbed he began
To scour every Hospital
every workhouse in the land

Then one magical day
She turned around and saw
The same man in uniform
Silhouetted in the door

He dropped down to one knee
And asked her to be his wife
He promise to make her happy
Every day of her life

Sadly to say
Children weren't on the cards
Due to damage inflicted
She took this quite hard

But he was a man
Of his word
And he made every day after
Full of holidays
excitement
Romance and laughter

A story
One of many
I will never forget
But one of the saddest
And the happiest yet