Missing In Action Poem by Ted Sheridan

My mother
perceived to be a caring soul by the family
once received a telegram
from one of the services
marked urgent
caring not to think
about what it might contain
or inform her of
she placed it in a stack
with everything else left
unwashed
unread
unpaid
but filed neatly away in or on top of her desk
and to this day.....having never opened it
she still doesn't know
that her soldier son is missing____