Annie And Joe

There is a wreath upon the door
downtown at the Variety Store
Annie who worked there for years
won’t be coming to work anymore

Annie had always worked
down at the Variety store
It helped pass the time
while her fiancée was at war

She had always been cheerful
to every customer who came in
but they could always sense
a sadness behind her grin

There were reasons Annie
had never married
and reasons for the sadness
she always carried

For thirty years...on her left hand
Annie wore Joe’s engagement ring...
alone…with no wedding band
Her love was held in a foreign land

Still kept in an old drawer
was an old newspaper that read
...'Hometown Boy...MIA'
She never gave Joe up for dead

Most nights she had spent alone...
reading Joe’s old love letters
and praying that God
would finally send him home

Did Joe die over there…still doing his part
...thirty years later
we still don’t know...
but we know Annie died of a broken heart