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I used to tease him whenever we met
that he would forget the love we had,
this hunger, this bliss, this awakening,
he would say, “I’ll remember.”

He had come into my life on the wings of my dreams,
I had tasted the sweet flush of first love,
but just as soon as life started singing,
he had to leave for the War.

We promised to love forever, he smiled, I cried,
and then a solemn promise we made,
that though we had been forbidden to meet ever,
If we lived through this war, we would.

I waited nine long years,
and the war was over.
Youth, riches, beauty all were gone.
Hope remained, but I stifled it
He must have a new life, so many laurels had he earned.
So I succumbed, I was weak,
another shared my bed that day.

I began life anew, leaving even the memories
of that first, riotous passion far behind,
going on with life like others were doing,
till they sent me his few remaining possessions.
His family all gone, they traced me through a letter,
a letter that just said,“I remembered.”