May God Bless the hero.
A Hero Comes Home
The whistle echoed
throughout the hills,
long before the train appeared.
That let us know
that you were home,
and soon, that we’d stand near.
*
Not long ago
you left us here,
to seek your spirit true.
Adventure called,
you answered back.
And now, your quest is through.
*
You proved yourself
to one and all,
of the man you were inside.
And proof no more
could you have gave,
than on the day you died.
*
Now, they came to us
with faces solemn,
their uniforms pressed and creased.
To express to us,
their heartfelt sorrow.
“That your son, is now deceased.”
*
They told us of a battle,
hard-fought,
and bravely done.
They told us of a hero,
and that hero,
was our son.
*
They said that you’d
be coming home,
and on this morning’s train.
With escort
and full Honors,
for you, the hero slain.
*
And so here we stand
with pride and pain,
for our hero’s home at last.
But, we wish to God
that for just this once,
that we could change the past.
***
Jack Downing
Oct. 2012
Copyright© Jack Downing, aka Jake @poemsandponderings.wordpress.com. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted or disseminated in any manner without the expressed written consent of the author. JRD. 5/26/14
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