I miss Jon

I sent him with my blessing


I have a friend, who holds a very dear place in my heart,
To me he was special from the very start,

He was cordial and refined and never seemed to mind,
when you asked a favor of any kind,

The days grew shorter as our friendship got longer,
The lessons he taught me that summer made me feel all the stronger,

Sadly enough our time together was nearly finished,
And when he read that letter, my hope for more time diminished,

He was leaving to serve in our armed forces,
Our lives together had taken different courses,

He promised he would come home, and then we could have more fun together,
But that time to me seemed forever,

The dawn on our final day seemed to fly,
my hope for him to stay had died,

I tried to keep the tears back, tried to stay strong,
But when he broke down first my will to stay strong had surly gone,

He told me I would be the friend he would always cherish,
Even if he were to somehow perish,

We said our fareells, tears burning in our eyes,
But I could not bring myhself to say "goodbye"

So as I gave him one last glance I finally managed to speak,
I will see you later, but It came out in a squeak,

The feelings we shared were deep and were felt down to the core,
Beautiful friendship will outshine all of the darkness of war,

And on the day he comes back,
I will be waiting as the friend who never let her heart turn black.

This poem was written in loving memory of my good friend Jon, just a few weeks ago we had to say goodbye when he was being shipped off to boot camp. During the time we were together he had taught me quite a few lessons about life. His brother was dying so Jon stood strong and taught me about life, how it is short and there is never enough time to say goodbye. He taught me how to be patient when my temper was short. To him freedom was riding on his motercycle with me attached to the back (terrified laughter coming from out of our helmets) and getting ice cream. He is so proud to be serving our country, and even though he was scared Jon knew it was the right thing to do. Our emotions were frayed in the end, and I ended up crying for at least two hours into the night. Pesonally I think this poem captures the reader and puts them into a special place where they can think about what friendship means to them, and what they would do if they had very little time left with said friend. The rhyme scheme I think added a little bit of lightness to a poem which would have been otherwise very sad and depressing. But the message is very clearly staded "Beautiful friendship will outshine all of the darkness of war" the question of what war is up to the reader, internal or external. Needless to say I miss my friend Jon very much, and giving him one last hug goodbye was the sadest and the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

*God bless the soldier, the patriot, and the man. For you do not hold the sword in vein, you are a messenger of God, and His hand of mercy*