Warrior Parents

 

I met a child

 So young and fair

Did he have his mother’s hair?

Or was it her eyes so fair?

The face and structure

Surely hers.

 

A young man

Preparing for war.

Tears

I held inside

Knowing her pride

For the warrior

That she grew.

 

A Marine

 She bore

Now

Sending him out

To some foreign shore.

 

A smile

 On her face.

With a cyclone

Tearing at her heart

As she says good bye.

 

It is just the start

Of waiting

 His return

A call on the phone

Which may never come.

A letter in the mail

That could get lost.

 

All the waiting

 Tares

At a Mothers

 Heart.

 

A Marine going off to war.

 

I held a tear

For

I have a baby too.

Coast Guard officer

 At twenty-two.

Like the mother

With her boy

I send her

 Off to war.

 

We both parents

Send our children

 with pride

To guard our coast

And fight in foreign land

 

We send them

To take the orders

From people we elect.

They may shed their blood

For people

Who don’t care

Of the sacrifice we

 All parents bear

That send

Our children

 

To protect.

 

The sorry hides

Of a greedy few.

Of those who do not vote.

Of those who have no charity.

Nor belief in anything

Excepting

 The big “Me”.

Or those who think they

Know the way

For all of us

And what we should

Or shouldn’t say.

 

We send them with pride

And tears in our eyes

And love in our hearts

For the job they do

For You!

                                           Fr. Russ