POEM: Thank you

I Didn’t Go To Die

I went in peace—

To choose my path, to stake my claim

As not to leave to others blame—

To flee mistakes and start anew

When options dwindled to but a few

To follow my family’s legacy

Of pride in service to a vast country.

As many reasons as there are men

Who’ve fought and died—then starts again.

I went in war—

No other choice, no other vow

Because my home is threatened now.

Set aside all plans of lesser worth

Resolve to protect my land of birth.

This reason alone is all I need to

Proffer my life for values I heed

My innocence became a shield

From realities a war would yield.

___I Didn’t Stay To Die—

I stayed because of brothers bound

By common cause and honor found

Trained to tasks we cannot quit

Sewn together, tightly knit.

Lost my sense of myopic seeing

I became as part of one whole being

Given to life by separate mothers

Name them now as forever brothers.

This was a step along the way

To make a life of work and play,

Grow old, create a family

And leave a meaningful legacy.

___But I Was There To Die—

I charged the field---I ran away

Yet I was there that fateful day.

I met the bullet, bomb or knife

That ultimately took my life.

I knew the challenge going in

Did not believe I wouldn’t spin

The wheel of fortune to my favor.

And win some 80 years to savor.

So now I’m in a tended grave

Where people come and call me brave.

And now I say with humble pride,

I went, I stayed, and then I died.

KAREN WORCESTER

Hayden