A Love Unfinished

This is a letter that was written on October 28th, 1917, in France. This letter is from Jack to his beloved Evelyn. Jack is a soldier, and he knows in his gut that he will not return to his Evelyn. This is his final letter to his beloved. His final letter saying goodbye.

My Dearest Evelyn,

The dim candlelight is flickering against the damp wall of this trench, as I write this letter to you my love. Long shadows cast over the faces of my brothers-in-arms. I hear a distant thunder of artillery, which reminds me of how cruel and fleeting, time can be. I do not know whether this letter will ever reach you or whether I will get a chance to see the sunrise again. My only wish is that, fate will allow these words to reach you. I want these words to be a testament of my love. A love so strong , that not even war can bring it down. My love will not surrender to fear,and no war can diminish it.

Evelyn, my love, my heart belongs to you, and I carry you with me. I always think of you. Even in the cold, the silence between the missiles, the brief moment when I get a chance to close my eyes, I allow my memories to get carried away from this miserable place ,and I think of you. Whenever I think of you,I will get a moment of peace and happiness. Even if it is for a moment, I will get peace. The very thought of you, gives me peace and happiness; this is something, I cannot find in this wetched place. If you don't know this by now, I want to convey that you are my peace and always will be.

I still remember your face. Your face remains the same, the day I left for war. Your lips were trembling with fear as you bid me farewell. I still remember that moment like it was yesterday. I still remember your hands clutching to mine, I could feel how much you wanted to tie to the life we once knew. I wish I could stay with you forever. Fate was so cruel, tearing me away from my love. God was cruel to us. I would have given up anything in this world, just to grow old with you. In the field of gold in autumn, I wanted to walk beside you. Under the glow of a summer moon, I just wanted to dance with you , feel your warmth . I wanted to hold you tightly and embrace you . Never letting you go. Just you and me.

War does not exchange affection . Instead, it steals and devours all the affection and does not return, what it stole. I have so many good men fall. These men had families and dreams. They had love buring brightly in their hearts. I had many friends who only spoke of home, and how they wished they could return. But, fate did not allow that. I had to bury so many good men. They never got a chance to see their love or their home. They only spoke of home, until their very last breath. The only thing that kept me going , amid all the sorrow around me , was the very thought of you. Your memories kept me going. The vey thought of you gave me the strength to get up, look ahead, and fight to this very day. I feel your presence, and I like to believe you are with me. You are giving me strength to endure this pain. You are the only reason for my endurance, and the will to fight. I want to live and come back to you. I want to live. I want to live my remaining life with you, I don't want to die here.

I know I am going to die like my fallen brothers. I don't want to die, but that is only wishful thinking. I want to see your beautiful face and your smile again. I just wanted to write you this letter, in case I do not return to you, my love. If I die here, I do not want grief to consume you, I hope you will find the strength within yourself to move on and live your life. I do not want sorrow to win and suppress the light within you. I want your light to shin brightly, even after I am gone. You are the brightest soul that I have ever known, it was an honor to love you. You gave me so much joy , more than I could ever dream of. You made my world brighter. I just wish that after I am gone , your life will still be filled with laughter and so much happiness. I want you to find love again. I won't be jealous , when you fall in love with another man. I just want you to be happy. These words are proof of my love. I just wish you happiness, nothing more.

If you ever wish to remember me, think of all the happiness we shared. Think of all the good memories instead of the battlefield and war. I want the good times to outweigh the negative times. Don't think about the horrors of war and be sad, think of the good times and smile. Think of the night, when we took a stroll by the river and I drew constellations on your palm. Where we stared deeply into each other's eyes and kissed fo the first time. Think of the moment where we spend the whole night embracing each other. With this letter, with these words , I swear to you, my love, no war in this world can sever and diminish what we share. What we have is so special, our love burns brightly. Our love is the most beautiful thing, and I will forever be grateful , for the chance to experience this great love. You are the greatest thing to have ever happened to me. I just want you to know, my love, that when death comes for me, I will think of you. You will be in my thoughts until my last breath. My sweetest Evelyn , wherever you go, my love will always follow you.

Yours, now, and always

Jack