Casablanca

I’m restless tonight, distracted.
The muse is silent, sulking,
Unable, maybe unwilling, to touch my mind
As it wanders in the drifting fog
Restless and distracted.

The holidays approach
So much to do, so much to bear,
So much that cannot be helped,
So much I want to share.
And there is no one there.

Packages I need to send
Gifts I need to make,
Commitments I need to make
Blankets I need to make for the boys
Not boys, Men, serving in the growing cold.

Focus, focus and shut out the noise.
Casablanca in the background
Lonely echoes of a lonely heart
Knowing they make the difference doesn’t make it easy
“Here’s looking at you kid”
But I’m not. Because they are far away
In the mountains, in the dessert, in the war.
I never knew them,
Just names from the heart of a loving mother
To a friend she never met
To the post office with love and pride and hope that one day
“Here’s looking at you kid” will be true.

Maybe tomorrow the world will settle back into place
But not tonight… tonight it’s cold, it’s dark
It’s Rick and Ilsa, good-bye forever
A hill of beans and the drifting fog
And a restless, distracted mind.