It was a stormy rainy night
And in the sidewalks of the sleeping city stood a young girl with a suitcase
She was drenched to her bones, her umbrella blown away and out of sight
Shivering she stood tall and erect, in her eyes a binding faith, of fear not even a trace

She was waiting for her him
He had told her to stand right where she was standing
He said he’d come and meet her, when the city lights were dim
And then together they would run away to their own world, a mutual understanding

So she waited, remembering their brief past to pass time
How their eyes had met and suddenly the world seemed to stop
How suddenly it all made sense, their togetherness, a divine crime
How he thought she was the most beautiful girl in the universe, like he’d said that day in the grocery shop

As the rain heavily poured, she didn’t feel even a little cold
His memory, his voice, his words, his promise kept her warm
She didn’t want to marry the officer’s son, she didn’t want the money, and he was her gold
It didn’t matter that he was still struggling to find a place in the world; she didn’t care about the norm

But the clock was ticking away
And he was nowhere near
Each hour brought her cruelly close to the day
The day where they were suppose to start their new life, the day she could see in her mind, so clear

The rain stopped bringing in her young heart a dread, so heavy so crushing
And as the first rays of the sun began spreading she burned
He wasn’t coming, they would never run away and their new life would never start, it all came rushing
Trust was beautiful, but its failure was killing, she learned

As she walked back the young girl in her slowly died and she became a woman
She reached home; she told her father she would marry the officer’s son
And soon she did, she had a home, two children and a man
She was rich, in all the worldly riches, her place in society replaceable by none

She left her knowledge to love on that sidewalk
She served her family, she brought up her daughters
When she thought of him, she imagined him in his new life his new family, her heart now a rock
She never cried , her pain locked , the key hidden in untouched waters

Forty years later, to the day she stopped by a wasted land, her car had broken down
It would take some time to repair, they told her, she was impatient, and she didn’t like to wait
She walked around thinking of nothing, on her face a perpetual frown
Not realizing how each step brought her closer to the truth of the lie she had believed, lending her so much hate

She reached a lonely grave amidst the entire wilderness
Without thinking she bent her old body to read it, and she read his name, the first time in so many years
The date read three days from forty years ago; he died in war the stone told her, in all its earnestness
She froze, as the truth of the longest night in her life dawned on her, the walls she had built slowly crumbled away
Her soldiers love embraced her all over again , consuming her , and after forty years , in her tired eyes , this old woman had tears