Please Don't Call Me Hero Poem by Joseph Bentley

Our nation's finest go to fight our wars
Warriors resolve to know the cost
God's will chooses their fate
He decides what is saved or lost

They'll go about their daily missions
Thinking only of their assigned tasks
Enemy contact part of what may happen
Risking their lives not too much to ask

Seeing death and dismemberment no effect
On the mindset of conducting the fight
Still leaving the final plan to God
Clinging to their own beliefs in right

The dead are the true heroes
Giving the final measure of devotion
Survivors know they must endure
A time will come for emotions

No one can tell mother or "brother"
How to feel or how long to mourn
Many brother warriors find solace
Believing up to Valhalla they were borne

Please don't call me a hero
I am a soldier who returned home
Among these heroes I walked
I thank God I never walked alone


JBentley-20Dec2022