GOT a poem you would like to share with Army&You‘s readers? Send it, preferably along with a photograph, to deped@aff.org.uk and we’ll feature it in Well-versed. This effort is from Army spouse Drusilla Gillen.
Dido’s pride
So much the child in a grown-up’s body.
Proud before him, tears lurk behind the façade.
“Please don’t go. Don’t go and fight. Stay with me,”
The words unuttered, for they’d shame.
Her husband, so vibrantly alive.
Impatient to be away, but he waits.
Waits, until he’s certain his wife will stand strong.
Only then does he turns, leaving a void in her world.
Months of 10 minutes speech a week.
“I love you, I miss you… and the boiler broke.”
Arguments, mutually forbidden in the time allowed.
Just her endearments and frivolity, his stoic assurance.
Time, it drags. Work is done, friends are kind.
Yet everything, just that little bit less.
His dog behaves badly, he misses him too,
Allowed on the bed now for both their sakes.
Care parcels wing their way east-wards.
Intimate now, the post mistress’s dysfunctional life.
Two months, five, seven, nearly there.
Time slows to a crawl….The day approaches,
The day arrives. At the hairdresser’s
Excitement bubbles. Which shoes to wear?
Drive to Brize, stomach in knots,
Leaving an hour early, just in case.
And then he’s there. She’s whole again.
“Have you missed me? Am I still lovely?”
Childish questions.
And he just smiles, indulgently.