You held my hand in yours,
so tenderly, mine white,
stark against
your brown, dirty hand.

That sparkling thing
glimmered, the sun
bouncing off facets as I held
it up in the sky.

I whispered," What is it?"
"A diamond," you said
so proudly,
"I dug it up out of the ground,
just for you,
and I will love you till I die."

My heart fluttered,
oh, such a Romeo, my eyes
cast down, afraid to
look in your gentle eyes.

You got up on your
tip toes, and kissed me
on the cheek,
I blushed so much...
t'was so very hard to speak.

"I wuv you," with your
toothless grin,
my hands began to shake..

As I took your precious gift,
and breathed the deepest sigh,
I knew then, that truly
you would
love me till you died.

And as years have passed,
and you are gone,
I think of you now and then,
and take out that
precious purple stone,
remembering of when..

A small boy of seven years old
loved an older woman
of ten....

He gave to her
his precious love,
and a diamond,
which he had treasured so.

Told with sincerity...
from her he'd never go.

The girl of ten
never knew, the soldier
who did'st lie
torn and bleeding
on foreign soils,
did'st love her till he died.

           

Kay Ekwall ©