Soldier in Love
She sits in her chair
Holding his favourite shirt
Awaiting his return
Wondering.
He lies in a ditch,
To take a rest, thinking of her
Of what he would do
To hold her again
Anything.
She flips through the channels
She calls up her friends
But nothing can get her mind off him
No matter what, she feels alone
Lonely.
He looks at the bodies
The awful sight
Trying to think of home
But nothing can get his mind off this
Trapped.
She looks through albums
At old pictures of them
She smiles at the thought
It’s like a breath of fresh air
Memories.
He thinks of her, through day and night
Their ups and downs
And the memories they’d created
Thinking.
She waits for him,
He longs for her.
Until he comes home,
A Hero.
Love.
By Sydney Colpitts of Maple Ridge (written at age 9 years – she’s now 16)
Editor’s note: Sydney’s poem was inspired by the story of her great grandparents, Betty and Earl Jensen.
Earl and Betty met during the Second World War. Betty was a young English girl, all of 15. Earl was 20.
The Saskatchewan boy was serving in the Canadian army with the 12th Manitoba Dragoons and was involved in the liberation of Holland.
A short time later, however, he was injured by an exploding landmine and taken to a Belgian hospital to convalesce.
He subsequently lost his hearing in one ear, and picked shrapnel out of his face for year to come. He was ultimately sent home to Canada (settling in the Lower Mainland), and the young couple continued to correspond until Betty turned 18.
That’s when Earl asked her parents for permission to marry Betty.
They said yes.
Not knowing a soul, she came to Canada at age 18, and the two were wed on May 7, 1947 – two weeks after she arrived.
They were married for more than 50 years, Earl dying much too young at age 75.
Betty passed away in Maple Ridge two years ago, at age 88.
The couple have one daughter and one son, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren (who never met Earl).
