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jwesley
Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

0 posted 2012-04-14 11:33 PM


  
- 1943 -

(from Boyhood Tales)

Boys and men were dying.
War was creating angels faster
than God could produce wings;
the Devil was standing
with open arms
at the gates of Hell . . .
beckoning them in.

And Charlie was leaving,
Uncle Sam had called . . .

Touch me, she said,
in a way you’ve never done before,
as a lover, not a friend.
Touch me
as if your heart suddenly found
life after death,
and the only reality
in all of existence,
was me.
Touch me
as if you loved me,
life was all that we had,
and you and I
were meant to be.
Touch me
as if you wanted to,
as if your soul longed for nothing else,
as if I was all
that you are to me.


And in the waning hours of evening,
when today approached
it's… forever gone…,
they lay between
blue velvet
above satin sheets,
two hearts in love
madly beating,
passionately drumming
through waves of heat.
Two souls entwined,
his love and hers,
and they were one,
not two,
breathing one another
in ways that only
two could do

Morning found her
tangled in satin and velvet;
Charlie was gone . . .
and later War
would create another angel
seeking the wings of God,
and later still,
in December, 1943,
I
would be born.

© wesley james beard, jr.
april 2012


© Copyright 2012 Wesley James Beard, Jr. - All Rights Reserved
Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California
1 posted 2012-04-15 12:56 PM


I was born in 1944, Jimmy. Right in the middle of the war also. It's amazing to me that as small as I was I remember the soldiers coming home, bundles for Britain
and so many other post war memories.
                               Ida

JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
2 posted 2012-04-15 05:50 AM


Sensitive, loving, and very appealing poetry I'm getting to read this early Sunday morning, my friend. Beautiful sentiments.

~*~ If they give you lined paper, write sideways. ~*~

jwesley
Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563
Spring, Texas
3 posted 2012-04-15 08:57 AM


Ida, I find it amazing how much one does remember of way back when you'd think you could remember nothing.  Fact is, I'm finding long-term memory to be a whole lot better than my present short-term memory --- and in many ways, a lot more rewarding.

Thanks for coming in...

j.

jwesley
Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563
Spring, Texas
4 posted 2012-04-15 09:03 AM


Thank you much Jerry ... of course my memory of "exactly" the words spoken could be a little - off? , if one is gonna dream, then dream big, right??

A little reality, a little fairy tale, and sometimes you find your memories have blossomed.

j.

Margherita
Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236
Eternity
5 posted 2012-04-15 05:18 PM


A beautifully told, poignant war story to which too many can relate I fear. A look upon the cemeteries of all those brave soldiers and the thought goes to those left behind, in many cases not even ever seen ...

Touching.

Margherita

Juju
Member Elite
since 2003-12-29
Posts 3429
In your dreams
6 posted 2012-04-15 09:50 PM


Reminds me of my grandfather story


Juju

ebonygirl
Member Elite
since 2011-07-14
Posts 2000
California U.S.A
7 posted 2012-04-15 11:38 PM


Touching story, ms. e
Klassy Lassy
Member Elite
since 2005-06-28
Posts 2187
Oregon
8 posted 2012-04-16 01:54 AM


I enjoy your poems so much.  War.  I'll never understand it, but I do know that both men and women  wanted so much to have something to hold on to, to keep life alive in their being, and to not feel the heartbreak of separation, which was bound to come and change them forever.  It doesn't change, does it?  

I lost two people I cared for a great deal in the Vietnam war, and another was lost at sea in a fishing vessel a few years later.  It seems like another lifetime.  Yet it goes on still, just under other names.  

What a memento to love and passion you are, and it shows in your poem!     Beautifully penned.

2islander2
Member Ascendant
since 2008-03-12
Posts 6825
by the sea
9 posted 2012-04-16 10:42 AM


what a delicate penning, with words touching the  heart and lightness too, thanks jewsley for the beautiful reading,


yann

ethome
Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858
New Brunswick Canada
10 posted 2012-04-16 06:37 PM


This is a wonderful write.
Captured me all the way through and that ending is special as this poem is.

Eric

true love never looks after it's own interests

JamesMichael
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA
11 posted 2012-04-16 10:09 PM


A pleasure to read...James
Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
12 posted 2012-04-18 08:11 PM


Jimmy....I always love your Boyhood Tales.  To think back on how it was when you were concieved is something I've also done.  I was born in Sept. 1942 and imagine that I was concieved about the time of Pearl Harbor.  Amazing to think of the loving that blossomed and the lives that were lost during that time.  A lovely touching poem!!
jwesley
Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563
Spring, Texas
13 posted 2012-04-18 09:57 PM


Margherita , Juju, ebongirl, @islander2, ethome, and James

- thank you so much for stopping in and reading.  World War 2 was the first war of which I have any memory - though, of course the war was over in '45, so my memories are more post-war than actually during the war, but  I can remember rationing (having only evaporated milk to drink for instance, no fresh) and other, war related, hard times in my early years.
And it wasn't long until the Korean War took place, and then the first real blight on our country - Vietnam.

Klassy Lassy -- I'm so honored that you like my writing . I too, lost several, friends and family  in Vietnam --- such a waste - and I too will never understand war, especially not the ones since and including the Vietnam fiasco - no purpose what-so-ever, in my opinion, for Americans to be dying
in places that don't want us there.

Martie - looking at the war from a better perspective --- look at the fireworks show your conception created....Wow!!  Thank you for your kind words, my friend.

j.

suthern
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
14 posted 2012-05-28 05:51 PM


Sometimes I sulk that life takes me away from poetry for long stretches of time... but here it is Memorial Day and I'm glad life saved this for me to read today! *S*

My mother was a war bride, marrying a man she barely knew... but their marriage was solid. My older brother was a '43 baby... but God was good to us and my Daddy got to come home, father more children (including me *S*) and bless our lives for many years.

I love this, Jimmy... if today gives me only one poem, it gave exactly the right one. *S*

Startime1955
Senior Member
since 2012-04-22
Posts 1072
Alberta, Canada
15 posted 2012-05-28 06:57 PM


*sigh* What a beautiful poem...I kept rereading it because it touches the heart...Magnificent...*HUGS*

*may our dreams ever be magical*

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