A Great Survivor Poem by Francis Duggan

In his prime in the early sixties the one who knows how to survive
He has reached his sixty fifth Summer and he feels happy to be alive
He has been in Vietnam in the sixties something he does not wish to recall
In life he has known many down times but he rises after every fall.

He was a former alcoholic one often down but never counted out
Diagnozed as a manic depressive an illness by war brought about
His World was falling around him and war was not his greatest battle in life
Out of war he's fought his hardest battles and he knows about inner strife.

Yet to laugh to him always comes easily he says laughter has been his saving grace
Even on him when life was hardest a smile often lit up his face
He surely is a great survivor one who has returned from the brink of suicide
To be still around in his sixth decade to him is a great source of pride.

An ex soldier decorated for bravery though the praises of war he never does sing
A man who was often suicidal but to his gift of life he did cling
He has an ongoing fight with mental illness one who knows all about despair
But when the going was at it's toughest the hero in him hung in there.