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Mary's War

By Dennis Serdel

Mary is a wife and mother
with a hole in her life
that the sun won't shine through
since her husband was killed in Iraq,
a vacuum like a coffin
that holds him away from her
Her Donnie looked so handsome
in his uniform when he came home
when he came home all the other times
Mary prayed to God to watch over him
but now she has sandpaper feelings
about that
Their baby will never know his father
and a part of him is all that lasts
Mary is so lonesome now
as she remembers dancing with Donnie
she can still smell him when they slow danced.
She cries and tears drop on Jason's face
as she changes his diaper again
she vows he will not fight in any war
that the government comes up with all the time
her tears stop as she gets angry now
war does not care about babies
war does not care about husbands
and war does not care about her.
Mary wipes the tears off of Jason's face
she picks him up in her arms
and dances a slow dance with him
across the baby's room floor.