The year was nineteen forty six. <br />A somber faced <br />and moist-of-eye <br />dear uncle <br />revealed the truth, <br />only to one, <br />his wife. <br />They'd married <br />the year before <br />when he returned <br />one morning, <br />filthy, <br />from the Russian Front. <br />He'd brought <br />a Samovar, <br />used in the field <br />for Borscht <br />and <br />plain potato soup. <br /> <br />So happy <br />to be home <br />and watch the belly <br />of his wife <br />grow quickly, <br />as on command. <br />Those times were hard <br />but happy, <br />one could taste <br />the spirit of <br />humanity <br />in every brick <br />and stone <br />pulled from the ruins, <br />saved from the rubble. <br />They spent <br />their stashes for <br />black market bread <br />and yellow butter. <br />The Doc had said <br />to eat more, <br />for his cough. <br />' It is the vitamins, <br />the A and D, <br />and get a lot of sun <br />to kill the bugs.' <br /> <br />There was <br />so little sun <br />and hardly <br />any butter, <br />though. <br /> <br />His cough got worse, <br />he started to, <br />as if by accident <br />cough by himself, <br />in total privacy. <br />Until that day <br />when she had seen <br />the sputum, <br />all foamy red. <br /> <br />She sold her ring, <br />the one they'd <br />baptised <br />'I Thee Wed', <br />to have enough <br />to pay the Doc. <br />They saw him <br />on that Saturday, <br />he was sooo busy- <br />through shredded tubes <br />his stethoscope detected <br />a 'slight improvement' <br />in his condition. <br /> <br />' Plenty of butter <br />and sunshine, daily, <br />it is the A and D, <br />the best of luck <br />to both of you.' <br /> <br />She rose before him <br />the next morning. <br />On that Sunday <br />the birds were silent, <br />and he slept in <br />to never wake again. <br /> <br />There had not been <br />enough of anything, <br />and the TB, <br />with utmost cruelty <br />had claimed <br />another soldier. <br /> <br />And, on a sunny day <br />in early May <br />a little girl was born. <br />She'll always wear <br />a locket with his photo <br />near her heart.<br /><br />Herbert Nehrlich<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-soldier-returned/
