Thirty years have come and gone
Since you deployed
With your desert ruck on.

2 August 1990
Iraq invaded Kuwait.
Saddam just laughed;
He sealed his own fate. 

Days turned into months
And now months have turned Into years.
I still hear your voice
Even though you are not here.

Your desert storm uniform
You wore when you were young
Lies in a chest.
When I’m gone it goes to our sons. 

And the love letters
Sealed with string 
Lie together 
Underneath our wedding rings.

Memories are all there is now
For life is gone.
But the soul never dies;
It forever lives on.

So I give you this Christmas,
Not something bought in a store.
I give you my love
Which lives in the heart—not stuffed in a drawer.