war bride

SusannahH

war-bride-for-post

Did he sweep you
off your feet,
he of the dashing
Air Force uniform
and cloven chin?

Did you see in his face
your unborn children –
or a one-way ticket
out of there?

Did you search your mirror, breathless,
for shining eyes, flushed cheeks,
signs this must be, must be love?

And as you boarded that war-time train for far away,
tossing your blithe bouquet to your best friend,
did you stop to wonder what was being traded
for the promise of a new and different life?

What hopes,
what dreams
were finally packed away
with the dainty shoes
and silken wedding dress –

moth-ball’d and laid to rest
like old photographs
in a silent cardboard box
tied with a velvet ribbon
in the back of your closet?

~ Susannah ~ 

[Excerpted from “Finding My Own Way Home:  A Memoir”
soon to be published]

6 Comments

  4. Thanks Lorrie. And as you know, British women weren’t the only ones who married Canadian and American soldiers; plenty of Canadian women (and American women too, I’m sure) did the same during the war.

    I suspect war heightens every emotion to fever pitch; and I’ve often thought that at times like that, we humans must feel a powerful, if unconscious, drive to maintain and propagate the species in the face of death and destruction.

    Like

Comments are closed.