By John Clise
Bathed in the golden sunlight
In sunflowers and daisies
She did lay openly
Monuments to war nearby
Some set for decades
Others freshly plowed
Row after row of names
Though she stares only at one
And the child in her arms
Overwhelming silence
As the wind whips the flowers
And the baby coos like a pigeon
Her soft yellow sundress
Was meant for something else
Perhaps a warm spring picnic
Or making love in the sweet grass
An enemy bullet finished that
And made sure it was put in stone
What that life was going to be was over
What will be now is unknown
Only lived a day at a time
Sometimes only a second at a time
Tears fell like a summer storm
As she cradled the living memory
Of a love to last forever
Memories to last 60 years
Were jammed made in two short years
She could see his smile in baby’s face
Even his squint when the baby fidgeted
Over the years the men would call
But she would only show them
Her favorite souvenirs from life
The wedding ring she still wore
And a heart shaped emblem
Removed from a purple ribbon
Placed on a gold chain around her neck
And so she watched their son
Grow to become a man
Have a family of his own
Play with her grandchildren
Sixty years later she awoke
To find her soldier lover
Sitting by her bed smiling
Wanna take a walk with me
Is all he said to her taking her hand
It was a spring day again
She was in her yellow sundress
He was in his uniform
As handsome as she remembered
Her sundress flowed freely
As they walked away bathed in the sun
Clise's Cornucopia 