Monday 28 April 2008

Forgotten Hero

Forgotten Hero

As I open those thick opaque glass doors
I wonder what today is for
And what the next few hours have in store?
I’m taken back to hardship and wars.
The poverty, the suffering, the destitution,
The long term suffering - a revolution.
But nothing seemed to get resolved
Up until this day unsolved.
It’s thanks to you, you saved this land
The least I can now do is hold your hand.
You are the forgotten hero and yet -
From some you get treated with little respect.
Through your smile I see your pain
As you relive your story again.
Your stolen childhood was of work
No time to play, nor time to shirk.
The loneliness, the squalor you lived through
Made a true honest person out of you.
And by the time you’d given birth
To a child on our Mother earth,
Your careful years of nurturing
Made a future worth living in.
With me your memories you have shared
As I look around at your personal wares,
Not much to show, where are they now?
As your one little room will allow
A tiny part of your life, the keepsakes you bring
To others they don’t really mean a thing.
Now you rest in your safe home
With people around you but on your own.
You are our hero (my hero) from yesterday
Who should be cherished and should be praised.
As I walk along some stepping stones
You walk along with aids alone;
From our past with years gone by
You carved out a future for you and I
And your stories of yesteryear you share
The least I can do is care.

Copyright Linda Lawrence

26th April 2008

26th April 2008