Diamond Teardrop | Teen Ink

Diamond Teardrop

January 10, 2009
By Anonymous

I sit still and silent and alone as I am looking brokenly upon the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier”. Is that the story of my Dustin now -- has he suffered such a mangling death that his corpse may not be recognized and brought home?

As I sit at one end of the bench with my back leaned up against the wall I am between the floor and the pool, between land and water. When I think about it this seems to be a fairly accurate way to sum up how I feel.

A floor is solid and supportive -- hard to break, this is me with Dustin. Water however will have its calm-seeming surface broken easily and will swallow you if you let it -- this feeling of helpless drowning is me floundering is Dustin’s absence.

Right now I sit in the middle as I am expected to believe Dustin is alive -- although he is not at war and he is not at home, they say he is still breathing somewhere.

I want to hit them for saying this is so. Every young man from Canada today is at war or at home -- if neither he is dead. Yet they don’t have the nerve to say this to me. Would it really kill them to say “Dustin is dead but we do not know where.”? I guess they think so. Perhaps I allow myself to possess this anger because it quiets the sobbing sadness.

They told him how fighting in the war would be honourable, and he thought seeing all those new places would be so exciting. He wanted to fight for freedom; he wanted to go with all the boys for the country. He would send me letters when he could, he said. Oh I was proud of him.

I remember how when those letters would arrive my heart would just flutter. My heart would flutter because I saw those letters as signs that in his spare time he really would think of me. I see now that his thoughts of me were the wrong reasons to appreciate those letters -- I should have been thankful for the signs that he was okay. I should have been thankful that he was able to write at all.

Back here in Canada we knew the war could only be getting harder for the boys to fight, but I knew mine was coming home soon -- that was most of what I really cared about; that does sound selfish but it’s honest. His contract was almost up, he was coming home.

It was in about the last two months of his contract that he really stopped writing. I thought it was okay though, even if I had no letters to read, I could count down the days until I would see my one true lover again.

Now I sit here in the reflecting room, remembering all this for that one true lover who never did come home.

I watched those young men get off the bus one by one -- men who had left us as boys and come back all grown up and in uniform. I watched their faces light up when they saw their families -- the pure joy that being in Canada brought them was magical to see. I watched for the face that would light up when it saw me standing here. While I fiddled with the beautiful engagement ring on my left hand ring finger, I waited -- Oh, the engagement ring.

I’ m fiddling with it now as I stare over the smooth reflecting pool. This pool and its still water has come to represent death in my mind today. The ring he -- Dustin -- gave to me only three short weeks before he left… Because he loved me and he wanted me to wear that ring to show everyone that I was his and that I would be his forever.

Everyone admired this ring -- told me I was a lucky girl to have caught myself such a “fine young man” when the ring was from my soldier, my passionate patriot. Everyone smiled at me and complimented the ring when in a matter of time he would come home.

But now he is dead. And nobody can stand to look at the ring, when anybody’s eyes fall upon my face today, they are sad. Now they don’t say I’m lucky at all for my soldier will not come home.

That sparkling ring, while I sit here, slips from my pale and shaking fingers and I realize how the tears are pouring down my cheeks to land in the pool I look over. That’s where the ring lands, in the pool. It breaks the surface gently -- like a diamond teardrop. I watch as it sinks peacefully down to rest on the bottom. It sparkles -- like his eyes used to sparkle.

A new wave of sorrow crashes over me as my mind conjures up an image of his sparkling blue eyes. My breath is short as I remember how those perfect eyes used to shine when they looked into mine… how just one glance from him could make my heart stop…

The ring is settled on the bottom of the pool now -- it looks like a frozen, diamond teardrop beneath the water; cried for the loss of a love and eternally preserved by sorrow.

The author's comments:
Discussing an upcoming trip to the War Museum, Ottawa in history class, the teacher mentioned having once seen a wedding ring at the bottom of the reflecting pool. While most of the class brushed the mention off as a spontaneous fact I was inspired to write about just how a wedding right might get to the bottom of that particular pool.

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This article has 79 comments.


on Nov. 8 2011 at 5:10 pm
Writtenwithlove SILVER, Canton, Ohio
8 articles 20 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
\"We were given: Two hands to hold. Two legs to walk. Two eyes to see. Two ears to listen. But why only one heart? Because the other was given to someone else. For us to find.\"
-unknown

Oh my gracious! this is a lovely piece! keep writing!

on Nov. 8 2011 at 8:30 am
LeahNicole SILVER, Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania
9 articles 1 photo 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
Don't let life drag you down when things start to get overwhelming & challenging. Just don't give up & try your best in everything you do and just give all you got, it will pay off in the future.

This piece is truly an amzing and beautiful story! It brought tears to my eyes! Fantastic job!

on Jun. 6 2011 at 6:09 pm
Untouchable-Summer SILVER, Cranford, New Jersey
6 articles 0 photos 86 comments

Favorite Quote:
Even the best fall down sometimes

I agree!!!

on Jun. 6 2011 at 4:56 pm
bunbun74 SILVER, Fort Collins, Colorado
6 articles 0 photos 36 comments
Wow this was a truely moving and emotional piece. You are an amazing writer. Keep up the good work!!!!

Cherie said...
on Apr. 2 2011 at 11:59 am
I never commented on the commas? I'm saying the language was choppy. Also: You shouldn't bring Catcher in the Rye to this. Writers have to earn that comparison

krzykrys GOLD said...
on Apr. 1 2011 at 7:27 pm
krzykrys GOLD, Baldwinsville, New York
15 articles 0 photos 51 comments

Favorite Quote:
i have many favorite quotes

i don't know if you have read Catcher in the Rye Cherie or Sally, but as it points out in the beginning, writing compositions well doesn't have to do all that much with a placing commas in the right place, it has o do with getting the point across along with the feelings that go along with it. so i think this piece is Fantastic. my heart ached for the girl.

Lillie GOLD said...
on Feb. 16 2011 at 12:43 pm
Lillie GOLD, Omaha, Nebraska
16 articles 24 photos 23 comments

Favorite Quote:
"My gelding was sold to me as a gentlemen. He is. Whenever we go over a fence, he insists on ladies first."
-Unknown

Amazing!  I have been reading a lot of the top rated stories and lately I haven't thought that most of them deserved to be there.  But this one is a true exception. Way to go!

stargrl SILVER said...
on Jan. 3 2011 at 7:46 pm
stargrl SILVER, Ballston Lake, New York
5 articles 0 photos 26 comments
mine took like a month to approve... i don't know why

stargrl SILVER said...
on Jan. 3 2011 at 7:44 pm
stargrl SILVER, Ballston Lake, New York
5 articles 0 photos 26 comments
I loved the inspiration behind this... I notice the little things too =) great job!

on Jan. 3 2011 at 1:24 pm
teenbookworm14 PLATINUM, Plainfield, Connecticut
41 articles 0 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Nothing gold can stay" -Robert Frost

simply perfect, your an amazing writer. i definitely love the title as well. keep writing :)

A Person said...
on Oct. 29 2010 at 9:16 am

This really touched me.

AWESOME! :')


on Sep. 15 2010 at 7:27 pm
pinkypromise23 PLATINUM, Cranston, Rhode Island
30 articles 0 photos 412 comments

Favorite Quote:
i know that you believe you understand what you think i said, but im not sure you realize that what you heard is not what i meant.

at least a week maybe two

on Sep. 15 2010 at 5:01 pm
deus-ex-machina14 BRONZE, Stewartsville, New Jersey
1 article 0 photos 439 comments

Favorite Quote:
"There are two main tragedies in life. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." -Oscar Wilde

how long would you say on average? Like a week or so?....

on Sep. 15 2010 at 4:02 pm
pinkypromise23 PLATINUM, Cranston, Rhode Island
30 articles 0 photos 412 comments

Favorite Quote:
i know that you believe you understand what you think i said, but im not sure you realize that what you heard is not what i meant.

usually a while...it depends. it always feels like a really long time for me tho lol

on Sep. 15 2010 at 4:02 pm
pinkypromise23 PLATINUM, Cranston, Rhode Island
30 articles 0 photos 412 comments

Favorite Quote:
i know that you believe you understand what you think i said, but im not sure you realize that what you heard is not what i meant.

this is simply beautiful.

on Sep. 15 2010 at 3:18 pm
lessthan3cherie BRONZE, Brockport, New York
2 articles 0 photos 4 comments
I completely agree! The language didn't seem to flow and the way the narrator talked seemed a little unbelievable. 

on Sep. 15 2010 at 2:01 pm
deus-ex-machina14 BRONZE, Stewartsville, New Jersey
1 article 0 photos 439 comments

Favorite Quote:
"There are two main tragedies in life. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." -Oscar Wilde

Me too! Amazing!! By the way, how long does it usually take the editors to approve something for the website?

on Aug. 2 2010 at 11:45 pm
ramnapotter PLATINUM, Toronto, Other
26 articles 1 photo 90 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow...”

beautiful .

on Aug. 2 2010 at 5:32 pm
DiamondsIntheGrass GOLD, Martinsville, New Jersey
14 articles 1 photo 278 comments

Favorite Quote:
Worry is simply a misuse of the imagination.

that is so sad, but so sweet.  i completely agree with cotigwrites.

Muhibbity said...
on May. 30 2010 at 12:05 pm
Muhibbity, Gujranwala, Other
0 articles 0 photos 9 comments

Favorite Quote:
aint no sexy parties like stewie's sexy parties =D

this is the first work in this magazine that i fell in love it. its not the complexity of the words that matter, its the deliverance, the raw feeling that you get when u read it and this piece is a perfect example.

* i might be slightly jealous of ur work. beware. plus this is awesome ;)