A smooth red gown flowed amongst the floor as she gave her last goodbye,
Red lips slipped into a kiss of farewell.
She gave him the token of her silk, white, handkerchief
Embroidered with the initials of her pure innocence
She cried for the traveling soldier
Dressed in blues
White navy cap
He promised her with broken words
Someday soon, I will be back.

The heartbreak of goodbye, loneliness settles in.
Letters marked the months had past, and the love still remained.
Pain and tears pressed tight against her heart,
Lonely days,
Woeful thoughts of a long distance love.
Held on to the faithful words,
Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

A place in time that shows a lie.
He stood on the sand, in some foreign place.
Gripped tightly in his hand flew a silk white handkerchief.
The memory of her lips, with a secret red kiss.
The presence of the sun embraces the illusion of her warmth.

The wind blew across his face,
He reminisces.
The love he once held,
Once thrived to live on
has provided guilt in the place of his heart.
His love he has for the woman in the red dress
Is more than enough to make him see,
That without her he cannot be free.
But choosing to hold on to a broken promise
Of his marital return, was a burden he could not live on.

The more he thought of her,
The more he began to see
That the lie from before was more than a simple white lie
It was a burned heaven falling into the crashing of the sea.

So he slipped through the trembles of a long love goodbye.
He held the token of love and gratitude towards the clouds,
The sweet breeze of wonders touch
He let go of the lips, the touch, and the embroidered handkerchief
For the sake of a traveling soldier.

This poem was written/submitted by Bernadette Mays.