Edith

At night she sits by an open window,
waiting for a knock
that she prays will never come.
Footsteps approach, recede,
she covers her heart
remembers to breathe,
but even the shadows
have substance.

This one gone for a soldier
lies garroted in a field of wire;
this one gone for an airman
spun out in a sea of fire---
voices call, no answer
only the emptiness
of air.

(Image:  Umberto Boccioni, The Noise of the Street Enters the House, 1911)