So I stand here still, like a statue in a museum
I’m frozen
My palms are sweaty,
my tears are burning me like acid on my skin
I reach my hand down the grab a hold of you
You are so little, in a giant world with no way to comprehend what is happening
You are so innocent with your little black dress
and your ocean blue eyes

I see his smile in yours,
I hear his laugh in your voice,
He is everywhere,
in the moon, and the stars,
looking down watching over us
He is in the beach waves
crashing onto shore, but yet always finding its way back to the ocean
He is in your singing, while your rehearsing for your concert

He is everywhere, but he is gone
They took him from us, he said ‘baby don’t worry I’ll be home someday’
But they took him, shot down his plane,
and left nothing but ashes and skin burning on the ground
Left a wife without a husband,
a baby girl without a daddy
A mother without a son

They say he is a hero,
He died for freedom
He fought for our country
Well congratulations US, my husband is gone,
and your country is free

So as I look down at you,
a helpless little girl
with no daddy to tuck you in at night
or to tell you what is right and wrong
What am I supposed to say when you grow up
and ask
why your daddy has been taken from you
I’ll have no words,
I will look into those ocean blue eyes of yours
and see him.

I close my eyes
and see him, standing right in front of me, with his army green on
He is running toward me,
faster, faster, faster
Until I freeze,
I stand still like a statute and I can’t breathe
My throat is blocked from the tears trying to escape my eyes
He’s gone,
****, just like that
My one true love, my soul mate, my everything
is gone

I watch as they carefully fold up your flag
Place it on your coffin
and salute the flag flying high in the sky.
Another soldier has fallen
Another man never coming home
Another family never going to see their loved one again

I glance down to see a microscopic tear, rolling down your face
You reach your hand up to me, and say ‘Mommy, daddy is home now’
I’ve lost it now, my strength, my grace,
the tears are burning like rain on a hot summer night

I wake up in a pool of my own sweat,
the letter I’ve read a thousand times, under my pillow,
I’m still young,
waiting for him to come home so we can start our lives together
That nightmare I had, will not become our reality, because he said
‘Baby, don’t worry, I’ll be home someday’