Ashen faced, slumped there, Clutching a crumpled Brown telegram No words she uttered No tears, fell from those brown eyes The words on the paper Lodged in her throat K I A Blocking a silent scream of anguish. She felt her fingers open, The impersonal note dropping to The cold stone floor, making no noise To disturb the silent cry locked within her. ........ In the years and decades that follow All that she could remember Was the dreadful silence, of The painful scream locked within her, On the day she lost her sweetheart.