BESS AND HARRY

She would laugh so hard her body would shake,
As if she invented laughter,
She was genuine.
Friends, acquaintances, the staff at the White House,
Spoke of her quiet strength and quality.
Her husband had been a farmer,
He knew how to manage a 3 horse plow,
His eyesight was awful,
But he memorized the eye chart,
And served as a soldier in World War 1
Given a job he was unsure of,
He went to Potsdam,
And met with Stalin and Churchill,
And played the piano for them.
He wrote to her almost every day,
Asking for strength
And dreaming of the day
He would return to her and home.
They shared a desire to be good,
Held each other accountable,
Committed to each other,
Come what may.