The envelope falls to the floor her eyes fill with tears The letter that is in her hand has brought her worst fears ~ With careful words they inform her what her heart had already known The husband she loved and cherished was never coming home. Her heart filled with sorrow and agonising pain Knowing she'll never feel his arms or tender kiss again ~ Never will he lay beside her in the shadow of the night He will never make love to her again under the soft moonlight. The letter told her of his bravery fighting for his land But what good was that to her now, she did not understand ~ He had a life here with her and a loving family, What was she going to tell them now when they asked about their daddy? She bent her head in sorrow as she remembered his soft caress The touch of his arms around her the warmth within his kiss ~ Why did he have to go and fight a senseless bloody war? For now he's never coming home and his touch she'll feel no more. He promised her when he left that he would be back again But it was in a wooden box, and that is not the same ~ Instead she got the letter telling her of his fate While the prayers she had prayed for him had obviously come to late. While the letter that lay on the floor said that he was a man Who gave his life for others on the strength of his command ~ But she knew what kind of man he was she knew what they didn't see, The man who was a lover with a wife and family. It makes no sense to her now, she can only feel her pain She only knows the heartache that with the letter came ~ The news she had been dreading the moment he went to war And today the letter told her that he's coming home no more. © Christina 17th January, 2003

"I saw this graphics set some time ago, and I new right away that there was a poem in it!  The picture depicted straight away the sorrow, heartache and depth of pain felt by the woman in the picture.  On can draw their own conclusions to the painting, and mine in this case was the woman's husband was killed at war, and how she can't imagine her life ever being the same again.  There is her loss, her pain, her anger, her hurt, her confusion....all valid emotions when grieving for someone we love.  She is angry at him for leaving her, at making the promise to return and he didn't, her confusion when "the letter" tells her what a brave and victorious man he was, yet she doesn't see what good that does to her and her children, and how victorious was he to have died?  If he was so victorious, then he would have lived!  She can't imagine victorious being anything but staying alive, and coming home to her and their children.  And "the letter" tells her the kind of man that he was, but she already knew what kind of man he was ~ she didn't need them to tell her.  He was her husband and that's all that counted.  But in the midst of it, is her sorrow, the depth of her pain.  How is she going to tell their children that their daddy is never coming home?  How can she go on with life without him, as she remembers his touch, his kiss and making love to her under the moonlight.  How can she possibly live without him?  At the beginning of the poem and at the end, we see that she knew deep in her heart that he was gone, long before "the letter" came to tell her.  It was the news she had been dreading, but it was what she knew.  She felt it.  She felt that he was gone.  Their souls were so intertwined with the other, that the moment he died was possibly the moment she felt he'd gone ~ forever.  And all the while, she wonders how life could ever be the same without him?"