Message In A Bottle

The magpie larks in the mid morning calling And sun and wind promise a balmy day And old Fred with his blue heeler out walking The shingled shore along the sunlit bay. From amongst the shingle he picks up a bottle A brown corked bottle washed up in the tide He opened it to find page of note paper Neatly folded with message scrawled inside. The message read 'Dear Fred I truly love you And I'll always love you as my true soul mate I know the waves will bring this message to you Sealed with a kiss from your beloved Kate'. The letter in black ink was clearly dated July the twentieth nineteen forty two A message from his dark haired blue eyed Katie In all his years the greatest love he knew. She must have thrown the bottle in at Sydney Whilst he fought in the trenches far away In hope by chance it might reach him in Europe But message in a bottle went astray. His darling Kate was that sort of a woman She had the positive approach to life His love for her sustained him in the trenches The dream that one day she would be his wife. He returned to Sydney when the war was over He went to Kate's house but she was not there Her tearful mother told him of her daughter She's in the cemetery 'life seems unfair'. In her letters to him she had not mentioned of her illness As she did not want to grieve him with heartache She knew how hard life must be in the trenches So she kept it from him only for his sake. Message in a bottle on beach in South Australia Found by the one 'twas meant for just by chance Left by the tide after years of sea travel Who said there's no such thing as circumstance? . At mid morning the magpie larks were calling And sun and wind gave promise of nice day When old Fred found his message in the bottle On shingle as he walked beside the bay.