A form letter delivered by a Colonel's wife
She climbed the front porch steps on a beautiful spring day
The letter she handed me would forever change my life
What had been a gorgeous blue sky turned dingy and gray
My remembering our sweet life cuts me like a knife
The news that my best friend was never going to return
I was too shocked to cry or to react in any way
I carried the crumpled letter all day it made my eyes burn
Friends kept coming with casseroles and some bouquets
Is this table full of food and flowers what your life earns?
I am staring at your photograph on the buffet
I have so much to do when they bring what was you
Oh, how I wish I could make it all just go away
Planning a funeral my best friend to bid adieu
I don't know where your earthly remains will come to lay
This is not something I ever thought I would do
When we used to meet after class at that tiny cafe
Why did we delay our decision to have a child?
I'll need something to hold as your face fades away
You were my great hero so passionate and so wild
I'll always agnosco veteris vestigia flammae
I loved how you stood face to face with horror and smiled
I must face my losses I can no longer delay
I do not know what I'll miss the most you or our life
When I finished this one-night last winter, I read it to my wife. She started crying and yelling at me for ruining her night. She said that this was her greatest fear whenever I went on a mission.
