Not to Keep by Robert Frost

[kellyrfineman]

More U.S. troops are being deployed. Again. And the stories of soldiers who have done multiple tours on active duty continue to mount, as do the stories of soldiers injured and killed while on active duty. And with the holidays coming, deployment must be much more difficult for families to endure - all those husbands, wives, children, parents, and

Comments

[p_sunshine]

Wow. That gave me chills, especially "The letter came
Saying . . . " which didn't really hit me until the second time I read it through. That really is what you'd think, that first time reading a letter about a loved one - just a blank where you can't really process anything and then the *bam* of you're getting him/her back.
I was thinking about war and romance the other day when I saw a preview for a movie about a soldier going off to war and his girlfriend writing him letters and it reminded me of all of the literature during WWI and II, and how in my head, that's always been a separate time and "war literature" (for lack of better words) seems to belong to that era, but it really doesn't. It's here now too, because we're in one of those eras now.
Thanks for posting.

[kellyrfineman]

You're most welcome. It's definitely a time of war now, and despite the casualties, it's nothing to either of the World Wars - or to Korea or Viet Nam - still, it's awful for the soldiers and their families when they deal with something like an injury that's not deemed serious enough to merit a medical discharge. Then again, it's awful for the ones who merit a medical discharge, and for an awful lot of soldiers who suffer no visible wounds at all but are scarred for life nevertheless.

[kellyrfineman]

Me too. In some ways, this poem resonates better for today's generation than some of the WWI poems about mustard gas, because so many reservists and soldiers have been sent on multiple tours.

[beckylevine]

Oh, Kelly, this Frost poem is totally new to me. How incredibly painful. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.