Dear Posting Message - A Poem

By Elizabeth Gobeil Tremblay

You represent all a soldier leaves behind
To ensure he holds his career in line
Moving across the country
Shaking up his life bluntly.

I wait for you wholehearted and ardent
How could I think you’d be so important
You are all but only a document
Stating where my life goes for the moment.

Will you show me new horizons?
Take me back to familiar seasons?
Truth be told, you have no use at all
You’re a barrier on my path is all.

I cannot wait to finally hold you
So to prepare and forget about you.
Because you could well be surprising
And send my plans to hell by morning.

You are the one who will shed light
On what my new path shall be like
As long as I don’t hold you in my hand
My destiny could sway far from the plan.

Sometimes even in the same household
Some fear you and others for you hope.
Our loved ones endure you with sadness
Neighbors hate you in all mightiness.

You bring on compulsory goodbyes
In a fool’s ‘‘see you later’’ disguise
Hiding that joy in my mind
From the ones I’ll leave behind.

For my feet are still here
But my spirit is gone
All winter I dreamed of
New adventures to come.

If the swallow announces spring
For military families, it’s this message of posting
That will bring change, feared or hoped for
A source of angst, even when longed for.