The Hero Poem by Elizabeth Russell

Lives, like speeding cars, rushing past,
Everything I love, falling away,
Like scenery through the window
Into a chasm of half remembered dreams
So much loss

To be a hero
Just one chance to prove I was worthwhile
But it rushed past too quickly to be seized
And it became a taunt haunting forever
The guilty

To survive, living, caring, working
With guilt corroding my life, and everything I do or feel
Tainted with sorrow
Desperate for youth and another chance
To weave again into the life I had planned for myself,
A different thread

The thread of peace, not adventure,
My yesterdays filled with contentment
With no threat to my tomorrows,
To look into the mirror and not see my terrified eyes
Hiding behind a make-believe smile