Picture from a pamphlet booklet called
Great Photographs of WORLD WAR II
Selected by the Editors of The Reader's Digest 1964
TO SERVE
Dedicated to every service man and woman who leaves a child at home. In loving memory of my parents who both served in WWII.
War is a treacherous thing
There is so much at stake
while the enemy marches on
my baby girl first wakes
silent in the slumber
she tosses not at night
early in the morning
she wakes easy at first light
while I am away from her
I am confident in knowing
every single day out here
is one more she'll be growing
in the midst of all this
dark
this gloom
this horror
she will play with her little bear
in her crib
while it is
snowing
I will march with my buddies
over hills and forests
beaches, mountains
jungles, desert sands
to reach the battle at
hand
her little lips will kiss goodnight my
lovely wife's sweet cheek
and in my dreams I dream of them
while the enemy is beneath my feet
I will walk and run and jump
I will hang my weapon
at my side
my silent stalking in the night
to hear her rattle tinkle
light
I will march on and feel this pain
because I know
it is not in vain
for there she sleeps in warmth and comfort
for which I have bought and paid
for each and every day of peace
someone once has paid
I know I will be going home, I have known it for awhile
I will be greeted so fast and sweet,
by my growing, loving child
For every father separated from his little girl
I cut the journey right in half, and separate the hell
I bless you on your journey home
I wish you all that's well.
Copyright 2010 by SheilaTGTG55
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AJCalhoun
Chicago Guy
Michelle Coulter
Wren Dancer
gremadcha
elizabethkirby
Salon.com
Comments
Wonderful..
HUGGGGGGGGGG
rated with more hugs
Even when they return physically they do not do so mentally and emotionally. The daddy who goes to war NEVER returns.........
^R^++++
Lunchlady2: Thank you so much for visiting. I know kids mean a lot to you.
Catherine: Yes, a great photo, at first I thought it might have been W. Eugene Smith one, but could not be sure. It was not attributed on this booklet, most were from him, UPI, AP, the Army, Navy and various libraries, but this one was clueless. I tried to search the image amongst his work and did not find it.
Mary Ann: A child anywhere, a serviceman, service woman anywhere, anytime. The sacrifice is the same, it is personal. All personal.
Muse: Thank you Muse, the piece was with me so many years, you can imagine and I pulled it out of it's drawer and wrote the poem. It was pent up inside evidently, a very long time.
Matt: Thank you for stopping by. I have always felt a connection to this photo and when I put it on this page, the words came out.
Torman: You honor me. I thank you for your service to our country. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your feelings with me.
Rated.
I think it will be up to the women somehow, I think men are not allowed to scream stop. Thank you for the post.
R
Algis: Yes, I agree. There are glaring wrongs in the world, which somehow, now, find no other way to resolution, but it is madness in it's own way. However, what is there to do?
l'Heure: Yes, those of us who had the capacity to understand at a very early age, war, no matter how that happened, are in a way marked. We are the background of war, removed several times from the battlefield, but still in a way, living with some of the horror. This by virtue of us being able to see, to read, to hear, to even have been there. War is no new entity, it has become the constant, and each time, it is, by the grace of G-d, it is not me who is in it. Yet, I am in it, as I experience it on some level. If we can despise it, fear it, hate it, why cannot we eradicate it? I feel women have something to do with how it might end someday, perhaps it is they that will somehow make this happen. It is a good end to work for. Somehow in my opinion there is a heavy trend in the current society to make women a bit more powerless, to take away the strides they have made. Somehow, how women are viewed by more than half the globe, even here at home by some, is a huge part of the problem. Someone has to be submissive, and that is the ultimate ruler, and perhaps, why we keep going to wars. Ugh.