Among the things that I have from my father since his passing are a few pages from one of his scrap books. As a young man, my dad served in the navy in WWII. There on the pages are some old letters and a couple of notes he wrote my mother while on leave. One page is a simple typed peom on plain paper stuck to a black album page. I thought I would reprint it today. There is a book and a movie of the same name, so it may have come from there…
Since You Went Away
Since you went away, every gay soldier lad,
Every khaki-clad soldier I see
Has a place in my heart and a share in my thoughts
And belongs just a little to me.
He’s a comrade of yours and is doing his share
Of the burden that rests upon you.
Both are doing the work, that a nation has set
For its glorious manhood to do.
Since you went away, I have entered within
A sisterhood mystic and great,
Of women who have learned the great lesson-to give,
And are leaving another-to wait.
But I strive like the rest, not to doubt or to fear,
To murmur, to sigh, or complain;
But to trust in His might, and to know by his His grace,
That your acrifice has not been in vain.
Since you went away, every fold of the flag
Holds a message that is tender and true.
It has always meant liberty, freedom, and right;
It now means my country and you.
Your honor is part of that deep azure field;
Your courage, of each crimson bar;
And the soul of you shining, replendent and clear,
Is a part of each beautiful star.
I’ve been thinking of this poem and wondering how to find it since 1944 when my fiance went to the Pacific. We were married in 1946 for the next 54 years till he died in 2000. Thanks!