Waiting

WAITING

4th September 2013

My hand ran through her silky hair, damp from moments before,
I smiled at her beautiful face but a teardrop did fall,
From above, I loved her so, but we were to be parted by war,
I was obliged to take up arms and heed the patriotic call.

That night would remain with me always; I prepared for the military train,
And so too the bittersweet warm rays of the morning sun,
I felt the weight of death upon me; I would never see her again,
It was a heartbreaking situation from which I could not run.

She knew too, that this was to be our final earthly time,
She wept softly on my shoulder, tears flowing from the pain inside,
Death, I said, is but a river between the valley and heaven's climb,
When it is my time I will think of you only and await you on the other side.

I looked deeply into her beautiful green eyes, in which I saw the urgency of fright. I said to her:

When the thunderbolt hits me and I perish,
I will await you by that riverside,
I will take you into my arms forever to cherish,
And carry you up to be forever by God's side.

It is not an end for us my angel sweet,
But a new beginning in heaven eternal,
In the bowl of Jesus's sacrifice we will bathe our feet,
And be kept safe by God from this suffering infernal.

Five months past I lie still on my back and without sound,
My eyes filled with blue sky and the whispy white overhead cloud,
Upon my forehead, a small hole, from a rifle round,
My body was buried unmarked and where it lay, in a hastily made shroud.

I stayed by that riverside for endless years, waiting only for her,
Lying in the soft green meadow, listening as the water churned,
When one day I felt something and looked up; it was to be my forever after,
The heartbreak of loss left as she gently took my hand and returned.

Copyright (c) David A. Vitali