Heroes Poem by Douglas Stewart

Heroes are people who are special to us,
They may be famous or fictional,
or just drive a school bus,
A grade school teacher, a baseball coach,
Then later on, our children or husbands or wives.

Heroes are people we look up to,
Who never seem to get down,
They always have the answers we are looking for,
When they come around.

Heroes inspire us to do better,
They pull us through,
They sometimes just give us
Something to look forward to.

Heroes have something special,
A certain power or intellect,
That sets them apart for the rest of us,
And enables them to survive the worse of wrecks.

I think of all the Heroes
That have passed through my life.
Those people I look up to,
That I wanted to be just like.

Some I never met, I just read about them in books,
Other I went to school with or saw on TV,
Catching the bad guys and locking up the crooks.

Heroes provide us with a distraction from stresses
That come along in our dull and boring lives.
What we don't realize is that we too may be Heroes
In someone else's eyes.

A Hero can be anyone,
Even someone plain and simple like me and you.
So think about that the next time
You are wondering what is the right thing to do.

When I think about the Heroes that have touched me
And made me into who I am,
The one that keeps coming up
Is just a normal, common man.

A father and a friend,
Always there to offer a guiding hand.
Always right, never wrong, not hardly the truth,
Just a different perspective,
And sometimes a better point of view.

I think about my childhood,
And the memories all include,
Times spent with my Hero,
My father, was and is a pretty cool dude.

We've been to the top of many a mountain peak,
We've lad down on frozen ground behind our decoys,
Hiding from a flock of geese.

We've fished a lot of rivers where the big brook trout lay,
And an occasional bull elk, together, we have slayed.
We've worn out our boots stomping through the brush,
Pushing ring neck pheasants, so in the air they would flush.

The time we have had together,
Has been compromised and less than we would like,
Life has a way of taking our freedom
in exchange for stress and strife.

A new chapter is about to open in my Hero's life,
A new devotion to old passions,
Which have lately been pushed aside.

I feel sorry for his horses, they retired long ago,
And that fat old bird dog better get in shape,
Cause bird huntin' they will go.

We better buy him some new boots,
His will soon be worn through.
I'm sure from running circles,
Just wondering what next to do.

Or maybe a pad or paper,
So that he can make a list,
Of all the things he wants to do
And everything he doesn't want to miss.

So now he moves on through a newly open door,
To another adventure he's patiently waited for.

We all wish the best for him,
on life's new winding road.
I know he will make the most of his time,
It's just the way he rolls.

He finds the silver lining in every cloud he sees,
And he will always be a Hero,
In the eyes of you and me.
So Hero it is, it's been decided by me,
I think if you ask around,
Lots of folks would agree.

Money drives some, others love power.
Some just watch the clock and put in their hours.
That's not for me, nor for my father.
We have a passion for helping people,
It's a gift not a bother.

So I think we shall see what the future will hold,
And wait anxiously for the story to unfold.