Author's Note: This monologue is based more on the actual historical
incident than the movie.
It's been awhile, hasn't it? It's the most horrible feeling knowing how lonely I am without you. I've lost all sense of time. How long has it been since I had to start facing the world alone? Ten, twenty, a hundred years? Or has it been merely six months? Do you remember the last night we ever spent together in this garden? We just sat on this bench, dreaming about the future. We always laughed about growing old. I remember staring up at the midnight sky and wishing on the same bright star as you. A wedding in the spring, a house in the country, children sleeping in soft beds while we watch the sunrise. Who knew that the war would crush our dreams? So many memories. . .Do you remember how. . .NO! No, of course you don't remember! How can you remember anything?! You're dead!
Why John? Why did you have to enlist in the Navy? Why did the Japanese have to attack Pearl Harbor and sink the Arizona? Why didn't you escape? Why did God have to take away the one person I loved the most? Why John? Why?! Why have you left me to face the world alone?
Sometimes all I want to do is sleep, so I can hold on to at least one more dream of you. Other times, I wish I could wake up from this nightmarish war. Then I think, what difference would it make? No matter what, from now on, I will always have to live in unending darkness. John, without you guiding me with your love, how will I ever find a way out to the light? How can I ever watch another sunrise knowing that you are no longer here to watch it with me?
I had a dream last night. I was sitting in a rowboat out in the harbor, surrounded by torn metal, fire, destruction, and lifeless bodies covered with blood; so many dead bodies floating at the surface of the water. All around me, I could still hear men cry out in anguish as the Jap planes continued to shoot at the remaining ships. Suddenly, everything was silent. No more explosions, no more shots, no more plane engines whirring above me, no more cries of terror and agony. I turned around, and you were sitting in the boat right beside me. You smiled and caressed my face, and I just knew that everything was going to be all right. However, just as swiftly as you appeared, you vanished from sight.
John, I don't know how long I've sat here in this garden. At times, I could swear that you're here once again, wishing on the same star as I am. Just like that dream I had last night, you slowly fade away into the midnight sky. You're gone. I have finally accepted that. You're gone, but I just know that you're out there somewhere, waiting for me. But before I go, let me watch just one more sunrise.
It's been awhile, hasn't it? It's the most horrible feeling knowing how lonely I am without you. I've lost all sense of time. How long has it been since I had to start facing the world alone? Ten, twenty, a hundred years? Or has it been merely six months? Do you remember the last night we ever spent together in this garden? We just sat on this bench, dreaming about the future. We always laughed about growing old. I remember staring up at the midnight sky and wishing on the same bright star as you. A wedding in the spring, a house in the country, children sleeping in soft beds while we watch the sunrise. Who knew that the war would crush our dreams? So many memories. . .Do you remember how. . .NO! No, of course you don't remember! How can you remember anything?! You're dead!
Why John? Why did you have to enlist in the Navy? Why did the Japanese have to attack Pearl Harbor and sink the Arizona? Why didn't you escape? Why did God have to take away the one person I loved the most? Why John? Why?! Why have you left me to face the world alone?
Sometimes all I want to do is sleep, so I can hold on to at least one more dream of you. Other times, I wish I could wake up from this nightmarish war. Then I think, what difference would it make? No matter what, from now on, I will always have to live in unending darkness. John, without you guiding me with your love, how will I ever find a way out to the light? How can I ever watch another sunrise knowing that you are no longer here to watch it with me?
I had a dream last night. I was sitting in a rowboat out in the harbor, surrounded by torn metal, fire, destruction, and lifeless bodies covered with blood; so many dead bodies floating at the surface of the water. All around me, I could still hear men cry out in anguish as the Jap planes continued to shoot at the remaining ships. Suddenly, everything was silent. No more explosions, no more shots, no more plane engines whirring above me, no more cries of terror and agony. I turned around, and you were sitting in the boat right beside me. You smiled and caressed my face, and I just knew that everything was going to be all right. However, just as swiftly as you appeared, you vanished from sight.
John, I don't know how long I've sat here in this garden. At times, I could swear that you're here once again, wishing on the same star as I am. Just like that dream I had last night, you slowly fade away into the midnight sky. You're gone. I have finally accepted that. You're gone, but I just know that you're out there somewhere, waiting for me. But before I go, let me watch just one more sunrise.