[Dedicated to all the soldiers out there who fiercely protect their nations and to their families who have to show equal emotional strength as them.]

Fingers gripped tightly,
His shirt and his hands.
As endlessly the tears,
kept falling from her eyes.
He lifted her in a hug,
but then pushed her away.
His duty came first,
And never would he sway.
Turning his back to her,
he sat in the cab.
Never looking back,
with a stone on his heart.
Everyday she anxiously waited,
for news that he would arrive.
But the only news she ever got was,
how many didn't survive.
Then one day, there was a knock on her door,
and she rushed with a beaming smile to finally open the door.
But what she saw before her eyes,
shattered her paradise.
Because in front of her laid was,
what the war had destroyed.
A scream left her lips,
that sent chills up the spine.
Seeing his body in a flag,
she would never again be fine.
Fragments of her heart,
were flowing from her eyes.
All the medals that he'd get,
could they bring him back to life?
As she tightly held his body,
sobs raked her chest.
Because this time when she cried,
It was just the shirt that was left.

                                                                       - Rosa