Missing In Action

The clock ticked on the wall
The sound seemed so far away
As she drifted into memory

He was there waiting
The boy who'd left her
Three summers before

He'd joined the army
Right after graduation
Just as he'd always planned

She had still had a year to go
When he kissed her goodbye
That day five years ago

He came back that first year
Just in time to see her graduate
They got married that fall

But he left again after Easter
And she got a call
'Missing in action'

A week later she had found
She was having a baby
And he wouldn't be there

Shaking from the memory
She looked across the room
At the three two year old boy

Babbling to his toys
He looked so much like his father
And she would raise him

Hoping his father would
Show up one day
To be with his wife and little boy

But until he did
She would close her eyes and meet him
In her dreams at night.