A Poem - the Field

On a long and sunny summer day
on a dusty road out in the field
she paces back and forth and waits
and once again against reality is sealed.

Twenty years ago, in that same field
a girl and boy, they played a game
He ran away and she would chase
and she would run, again the same.

Back and forth, the bonds held fast
through teenage years of violent homes
The boy and girl would chase each other
not far from safety would they run.

Eighteen years old and still a comfort
in forgetting life and new adulthood
To come back to this field and wander
and remember always just how good.

Then war arrived and boys ran after
as always boys who ne'er returned
and girl and boy, just two together
were reduced, as cruel, to one.

Kitchen curtains still blow freely
floors are swept and scrubbed quite clean
gardens tended, supper ready
every part of home it would seem.

And twenty summers in the passing
no man has hung his hat inside
for somewhere there must be memories
this girl too closely has kept tied.

You see, love is something that is built
brick by brick and tie by tie
Not something that can be torn
by little tiffs and little lies.

She still comes to this road
and paces soft and muddy ground
For somewhere in the fields ere passing
a little peace, for once, is found.