Poems of Tears II; More of Emily's Poems

Christmas
This is her first christmas without him.
There is an empty spot at the table.
Family fall into silence as their eyes fall on the chair.
Nervous coughing,
No one knows what to say.
She weeps silently,
They turn away.
A single smile stands among them,
His five year old girl.
They ask why she is smiling and she says,
"Dad's having Christmas with Jesus.
I bet he's saving us cake."
The crowd break into smiles,
Their happiness returned.
Her mother sits at her chair,
Watches her little girl.
She dries her tears and a smile lights her face.
She whispers to herself,
"I hope it's chocolate."


Uniform
Tears of sorrow litter a dead man's coffin.
Cries of anguish are their lasting song.
No one moves,
As the dirt piles higher.
An eight year old girl,
saying good-bye.
Dressed in black,
Her eyes a contrast to the sea of darkness.
Bright blue.
Bright with tears for a man she barely knew.
Always gone.
Never there.
All she had ever seen was a man in a uniform.
His picture on her wall.
Her mother's tales had filled her head.
She belived he was invincible.
She belived he was coming home.
He did... in a body bag.
She remembered the day,
so clear in her young mind.
A sunny afternoon,
outside on the steps.
A grave mailman,
a letter in hand.
Then came her mother's tears.

Across time and space stands a man and his wife,
They sit cold and still in their living room.
A picture on the wall.
A young woman in a uniform,
she can't be over twenty.
Her ashes are in the clay pot next to the photo of the smiling girl.
Her parents kiss it goodnight.
Not a sound is uttered except for the beats of two broken hearts.

All across our country,
their cries of sorrow echo in our ears.
But you close your hearts.
Can you not hear them?
Can you not see the words written on the stones.
R.I.P
Rest in Peace.
The uniform they once wore proudly,
is the cushion for their bones.
So many die.
So many weep.
A loved one is always left behind.
Why?