~ Forgotten Hero ~

He slumps head down

in a doorway

forlorn, weary and ill

His moment of glory forgotten

in a foreign battle upon a hill

The shadows of memories linger on

in the ghosts of buddies

who lay slaughtered and dead

He is filled with regrets

for things he left unsaid

On that day valiantly he fired

trying to save his stricken friends

until only he survived

Now the nightmares never end

and the country he defended

soon forgot him

just another vagrant, they all say

and nobody even remembers

that they called him

a hero that day

© 2006

Carole Mathys