They leave tomorrow, after two months of training and preparation. Goodbye, soldiers, and Godspeed to you all. May you all return safely to your families and homes.
One More Goodbye
With sadness too deep for the tears
that dam in my throat
I stand strong,
nerves frayed but smooth on the surface
like threads pulled so taut the broken edges do not show--
I cannot cry, I cannot rail and scream
because to do so would cause distress
for the one who must leave for a war
that seems to have no end, no purpose, no final goal
of victory against an enemy I cannot even name--
and yet my son must go
while I wave and smile
and break apart inside
You know, I have been out of the military for some 15 years now, but this piece took me back in memories that I have lived.
ReplyDelete**I had a snapshot of my young wife standing alone in the freezing wind at the Greyhound station in Louisville, doing her damnedest not to cry. Didn't succeed at it very well (neither did I , but don't you EVER tell that). I remember that being one of the most helpless, lonliest feelings of my life as that bus backed out and left her standing there with her shoulders sagging just a bit.**
**The times are too many to recall when the phone would ring in the dead of night or there would be a knock at the door and in a whirlwind, I would be gone. No idea where or for how long, if it was a training exercise or a plane ride to a hot spot. It didn't matter, I had to go and she had the helm all by herself once again.**
Never think for a minute that the soldier doesn't know all these things. Probably the only thing in the world harder than soldiering is being a woman in a soldiers life.