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Barter
A Ring for a Baby

Aiko woke at midnight, she heard her son crying,
And tried to console him, but to no avail;
She soon realized that her baby was dying,
His little thin face was so peaked and pale.

She did not have money to buy a bus ticket
To Pusan so walked twenty miles through the night,
Finally reaching the house of the doctor
and knocked on his door in the dawn's silver light.

The doctor opened wide and she entered his office;
He asked her if she had the money to pay;
She slipped off the wedding ring her husband gave her
Before war and duty had called him away.

The medic injected a shot to her baby
And gave her some drugs to help him to survive;
She wearily trudged the long road back to Yong Ho Dong,
Grateful to God that her son was alive.

For nearly six months Aiko patiently nursed him
Giving him any food that she could get,
Sometimes although famished she went without eating,
And gave her share to him without regret.

When it appeared she could not live much longer,
Her husband was wounded, returned from the war;
He hugged her and kissed her, caressed her and loved her,
Promising they would be parted no more.

He held her small hand, saw that her ring was missing;
She told him what happened that terrible spring;
Tears welled in his eyes as he learned how she suffered,
And saved their son's life with her gold wedding ring.

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