Heroes Small Enough [revised] Poem by Margaret Alice Second

A new James Bond film Skyfall surprised & inspired me,
I thought Daniel Craig could only play in terribly violent
films of the series - wrong, in this instalment he showed
devotion to duty & his stern boss, stiff-upper-lip lady M

Concepts of values, devotion to fatherland & loyalty to
principle always quicken my blood, make my heart beat
faster, confer meaning to life; having read of destitute
families after fire destroyed their homes and seeing

A TV program about a little Chinese girl with fatal, and
inoperable facial melanoma life was so sad - but James
Bond took care of it, watching 007’s adventures I feel
inspired to make a difference in my colleagues lives

I must confess Mandela’s life makes me feel devotional
& pious, but it is is too holy to inspire me; I feel small,
insignificant when confronted with forgiveness he showed
his jailers - I don’t see anyone following his example

Enemies still fight each other; yet James Bond holding
lady M as she lay dying, both remaining faithful to their
country in opposing the enemy agent trying to kill them
creates fiction enough to replace despair I feel seeing

Unconquerable, otherworldly morality set by a saintly
Nelson Mandela. Thank goodness for heroes small
enough to capture the fancy of us little people who
cannot forgive our enemies the way Mandela did


[ORIGINAL: ]

Surprised to find that Skyfall, the new James Bond film,
inspired me – thought that Daniel Craig would only ever
play in terribly violent films in the series – wrong, in this
Bond instalment he showed devotion to duty and his stern
boss, the stiff-upper-lip lady M

Concepts like values, devotion to fatherland and loyalty to
principles always quicken my blood, make my heart beat
faster and confer meaning to life; having read of destitute
families after a fire destroyed their homes and having
seen a TV programme about

A little Chinese girl with fatal melanoma of the face, too late
to operate, life seemed so sad – but James Bond took care of
that, after watching the adventures of 007 I feel inspired to
try to make a difference in the lives of my colleagues –
I must confess that Nelson Mandela’s life

Makes me feel devotional and pious, but his life is too holy
to inspire me; I feel small and insignificant when confronted
with the forgiveness Mandela showed his jailors - I don’t see
anyone following his example, enemies still fight each other,
BUT James Bond holding M

As she was dying, both of them remaining faithful to their
country as they opposed the enemy agent trying to kill them;
creates a fiction small enough to replace the despair I feel when
looking at the unconquerable moral standards set by the saintly,
otherworldly Nelson Mandela

Thank goodness for heroes small enough to capture the fancy
of us little people who cannot forgive our enemies the way
a freedom fighter like Nelson Mandela did…