Our Hero!
From my place in the audience,
I could see the young, athletic man
Standing next to the podium,
His trousers ironed with a sharp crest
His black shoes shining,
His light blue shirt, matching his eyes' color,
Had something embroidered on it:
A soldier carrying his wounded brother
He started to tell us his amazing story:
The day he found himself ejected from the Hummer
On a crisp day, in November 2004, on a dirt road in Iraq
When a bomb hit their car;
His friends all dead, his own feet mangled
His life’s blood bloodying the dirt
His thirty-two agonizing surgeries,
His arrival at home,
His wife leaving him...
Then, a new life began for him
When other soldiers, like him,
Contacted him
And showed him the way to live
A full life again
He told us about his recent achievement:
Climbing the Himalayan highest top
With other two amputees, like himself
His eyes, alive, full of pain and pride
His voice shaking with emotion
There he stood, Tall,
Our HERO!
REA-SILVIA COSTIN, P.E. .2011
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