By Hal Britton
I didn’t know my grandfather
As he boarded
a train that day.
I wasn’t even thought of
Before he went away.
He came from Canada
To the U.S.A. to stay.
He enlisted in the Army
To go away that day.
How they missed him
Oh so much.
Now no voice to hear
No loving hand to touch.
Time went by
Through night and day.
Would he come back home,
Or away would he stay?
Younger brother on one side
Older sister on the other.
Mom and her siblings watched
An American Flag given to their mother.
As she watched
those soldiers
Leave their mom alone,
Mom knew her daddy
Wouldn’t be coming home.
Mom stood at attention
After 36 years had passed
There on that day on Soldiers’ Hill,
Daddy — finally home
at last.
Mom was at peace
At the end of that day.
Her prayers
have been answered
Daddy’s now home to stay.
As I sat by her hospital bed
We reminisced time gone by.
Peace came upon mom’s face
A tear coming from her eye.
She went back to that day
That day on Soldiers’ Hill
What she said next
Made my heart stand still.
“I know I said
my daddy’s home now,
But since that day,
There’s something different
I want to say.”
“My time on
this earth is short
My body won’t
be here for long.
Daddy’s body
was buried that day,
But it was
his soul that went on.”
“Soon the time will come
When my body
will also be still,
But my soul
will be with my daddy
Up on God’s Heavenly Hill.”
“Jesus will be there
to greet me
As I enter through
that heavenly gate.
He will point me in
the direction
Where my daddy
is standing in wait.”
“Even though time
has been lost
And my daddy I couldn’t see,
Soon in God’s garden
we’ll walk,
Jesus, my daddy, and me.”
Thank you, PFC Pearley J. Mason, my grandfather, and to all the veterans and their families.
