When your World is Falling Apart

A poem written about my parents, how they fell in love and wartime.

 

 When you are young

and there are so many dreams to be shared,

when the future looks so bright –

the dark shadow of war is the last thing you need.

As storm clouds gather,

you realize the last hope you had has disappeared

and your hopes are bursting like bubbles in the air.

It no longer matters if you have love to share,

your life is at stake and you must decide,

if you want to flee or die.

Happens every time,

when your world is falling apart.

Your dreams like rose petals crushed beneath so many feet,

your bright stars have lost their glitter,

love is but a fleeting thing –

now life has to be considered.

She left her hopes and dreams behind,

friends she never thought she’d meet again,

but a few possessions and then a row boat in the dark of night –

lapping waves heading toward an unknown future.

Would there be light by dawn?

He a poet and writer,

with many friends and companions.

Wondered if he’d ever return,

what the future would bring –

no choice in the matter.

If they got him he’d hang,

no crimes he had committed,

it was a crime to love your homeland –

his patriotic heart was breaking.

 

So in separate places and times,

they made their way to an unknown land.

It was but for God’s helpful hand that they found Germany,

a displaced persons camp is no place for the young and the dreamers.

Crushed and heartbroken wondering what the future will hold,

life was tough and life was good –

if only things could fall in place like they should.

They were young and alive,

what they didn’t know then they discovered later.

They’d never return home again,

but God lent a hand,

he saw that they meet.

Love is ever stronger,

more dramatic as bombs fall from above,

sure they’d have so much more to share,

back in their homeland –

where they had left their dreams.

 

What’s wondrous about romance during wartime?

Is that you have a chance to create a whole new life together,

off with the dreams of yesterday,

off with the dreams of returning,

forward into the future –

to build new dreams on a foreign shore.

To begin to share a whole new life,

forget wartime and the strife,

perhaps passion is more intense,

kisses more fiery –

you never want to be alone again.

Life gave them all it could,

but the years were too short.

The thread of love so fragile,

the pain of loss so great.

Now after many, many years,

together they are –

loving through eternity.

Rasma Raisters
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Rasma Raisters

I am a poet and writer. I write for many different sites online. I have two published books of poems on Amazon - Poetic Thoughts Fly and On the Wings of Love.

10 thoughts on “When your World is Falling Apart

  • August 6, 2017 at 3:20 PM
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    Rasma, thank you for sharing this sad but beautiful story of your parents and how they met in wartime. Your wiords are packed wit feeling, emotion and pride, and the real photos add to the authenticity. Very well penned.

    • August 7, 2017 at 1:30 AM
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      Thank you John. I was always glad for them finding each other. My mom would have had a most difficult time getting through it all and making her way to America.

  • August 6, 2017 at 3:21 PM
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    Oh, Rasma, this is so beautiful, so very beautiful. Your parents suffered greatly by having to leave behind the things they loved so much, their way of life, their friends, their beloved homeland – but through it all, and now for eternity, they never lost their love for each other – and you were a blessed gift for them that made their happiness and joy complete. This must have been very difficult emotionally for you to write, it is admirable and a great piece of work. Thank you for sharing this beauty of love.

    • August 7, 2017 at 1:31 AM
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      You welcome Phyllis. Yes, I was the cherry on their cake so to say especially since I came along when they were already in their middle years.

  • August 6, 2017 at 6:25 PM
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    The war was devastating to so many people. Lives lost, broken and forever changed. Yet there is always those who will be chosen to survive and press on. Your dear mama and papa were two of the fortunate. Trials and tribulations they most certainly would have encountered, yet they were driven on to find safety and love in another time and land. They found each other and thus you were born into their LOVE and care. Sad memories they would carry together of their past, yet their future was you their beloved Rasma to strengthen and bind their love as a family together. This is so beautiful, that I felt my eyes tearing up, thinking of all the displaced people in our present world as well. Going through similar horrors that your mother and fathers generation went through. Thank you for sharing their pasts, beautiful couple they were and leaving behind a daughter with a poetic heart like her dear dad. I truly believe my friend that they are walking in eternity together holding hands and watching over their beautiful loving daughter. Peace and blessings I send to you Rasma.

    • August 7, 2017 at 1:35 AM
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      Thank you Vincent. There were some delightful memories too like when my mom told me that in the DP Camps Latvians despite all the difficulties also made for some fun time and dad would come back from a late night meeting about a dance they would hold. He would wake mom up and teach her a new dance step so she could keep up with the times. By the time they reached America those two could have stepped in for Fred and Ginger so too bad they never reached Hollywood.

  • August 6, 2017 at 8:25 PM
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    Quite a story and what they went through in a difficult time, and still be together, is a testament to love. Warmly penned and expressed Rasma. Lovely work.

  • August 7, 2017 at 11:46 AM
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    Thank you for that peek into your parents’ love that bloomed in the midst of the devastation of war. While you’ve dwelt on the poignancy of leaving, the hope of tomorrow and a new life is ever present. Loved it!

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