On some nights sixty-six years ago I stood guard in a military camp in Korea.  As I walked back and forth in the cold, alert to the sounds and movements around me, my mind was filled with thoughts of home.  I thought especially of the loving wife that waited for me there.  Out of those ruminations there often rose a simple verse that I later wrote down and sent to her. I gave examples of these poems to my wife in a long-ago post that I entitled “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.”  I repeat one of them here:

LOVING YOU

                         I dream of you, I cherish you, each second of each hour.

                        To me you are the petals and the fragrance of each flower.

                        You are the shining star that is the sentinel of night,

                        You are the dawn when dark is gone,you are my sunshine bright.

 

                         You are the hope that fills my heart to fullest measure.

                         You are the one and only girl I ever want to treasure.

                         To you I give my loving heart, my life for evermore,

                         With all the joys I own today, and all that are in store.

 

                         I only want your happiness, forever and forever,

                         And to be with you now, and never leave you. Never! 

 

It is sad to be separated from someone you love dearly.  My wife and I were reunited late in the following year, and what a joyous moment that was.

Now we are separated again, this time by the gulf of death.  I miss her terribly, just as I miss my father and mother, brothers and sisters, and all the other loved ones who went before me.

The 1954 reunion with Ann after my return from Korea was a touch of heaven.  Just think how wonderful the real heavenly reunion will be.

I’ll never leave her.  Never!