I do love poems about heroes - and lovers. :o)
HEROES
They didn't seek thanks or any praise for a job tasked out to do.
It is taken as a given, they're there when you need them, forever willing, tried and oh so true.
Always ready for the call, the last they did receive,
They stood to fight and die for in all that they believe.
Duty is not a hollow word and dedication is a creed,
The flag and freedom, that we honor, our words are backed by deeds.
I will ever wonder, and ask the question, why dear lord, just why?
They had to go, a family cries, another hero dies...
I see their faces in my dreams, tough and young and brave.
They were good men we loved them all, we wish they could have stayed.
The hollow words mean nothing, or the blame for what went so terribly wrong.
Our fallen comrades, they lay asleeping, will never hear, that same old tiresome song...
We bow our heads and wipe our eyes and look to a brighter day,
Remembering and forever proud, those whose motto’s thusly read: "de oppresso liber, we do not quit, and we lead the way..."
Major Duke Briley, US Army