Stacey N. Binning (nee Jones)

A WORN LETTER

It is a warm summer day
in the midst of a war;
A man sits with a letter in his hand.
He reads and rereads
the now worn letter,
as another battle begins.
He looks up to Heaven
and begins to pray,
looking for strength for what he must do.
This is his day,
he know that well,
‘though he has been only three months in Hell.
He refolds the letter
as his name is called
to join on this life-saving mission.
But no lives were to be saved,
only lives lost,
For the crew all perished on this summer day.
Back home, a widow cries
as she reads and rereads
a now worn letter.

©Copyright September 9, 2001 by Stacey N. Binning (nee Jones)

Author’s Note: Written in memory of USCG Lt. Jack Columbus Rittichier, Killed In Action on June 9, 1968. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”