Ode to a Soldier

My love is a wondrous man,
devoted and kind,
bold in his love for us,
yet gentle in his approach,
as we were all as skittish deer
when he arrived in our lives.

His humor unlocked for us
the hilarity in our hearts,
laughter trickling first tentatively,
then permeating, saturating our home,
good feeling that will live on in its beams
to the next family it shelters.

He taught our sons to be men
that could love and be loved
both in strength and in wisdom,
our daughter to trust in good,
and her own steely determination
that could neither be bent nor broken.

He lives in constant pain,
pervasive exhaustion, and yet
not a word is spent in complaint.
A legacy of service in times of war
left its mark on his body,
but strengthened the resolve of his mind.

I am blessed to receive all
that his generous heart bestows.
My days are golden
because we have found each other,
pieces slotted into personal puzzles
we did not know before were incomplete.