England 1917
In the days of WW1

Smithy a love story

I found him wandering in the Cornwall marshes.
He did not know who he was
I think it was shell shock.
So I called him Smithy.
He did not seem to mind.
He could have been one of the poor
Soldiers returning from the western front.
So much pain so many horrors to forget.
I took him home with me
And rested him in the spare room.
I am alone at the cottage
since my husband was killed
now buried in Flanders fields
it has been very lonely here.
.But he looked so lost
so helpless and I am
always up for a lost cause.
I gave him my husband’s razor
And shaved his beard.
He bathed and slept for hours.
I watched him sleeping
So safe and gentle.
And oh lord so very handsome.
.we talked for hours each day.
He worked in the gardens
Tending the fruit and vegetables.
Planting potatoes
and fixing the chicken runs.
He had a softness about him
A kind way that I liked.
What I did not know was
I was falling in love with him.
We would sit in the summer gardens
In the evening he smoked an old pipe.
With Dutch aromatic tobacco.
I made tea and scones.
One day a bird flew into the glass door.
breaking its wing.
He lifted it gently and comforted
It until the creatures heart stopped
fluttering then fixed its wing.
Three weeks later it flew away.
That was when I knew I loved him.
I called him my gentle giant.
Then I acted in a brazen fashion
That would have made my mother
blush I held him and kissed him.
Telling him I love you Smithy.
He kissed me back
That night I took him to my bed.
And that’s where he sleeps now.

A year later

Sat in the window seat
of the olde English cottage.
The open bow window
providing natures salted
air conditioning from the sea.
Breaking waves below the cliffs.
the only noise in the starlit night.
I turned to see your face
the one that takes
my breath away and
Fills my heart
with hopes and dreams.
Your lips open slightly
the words
I love you
are on the tip of your tongue.
They have no need to be spoken.
Because I can feel your heart
beating with mine and I know it.
You found me and rosebud cottage.
I know one day your memory
may return
that you may have
a wife and children.
And the loss of you
will be too much
for me to bear.
So we sat there
with the sea below us
and the stars above us.
I whispered
"I love you darling."
And for now
for this moment
I am happy once again.