Salute to Returning Heroes

Returning Hero
Who will be there to remember,
when all has been said and done,
in the cold grey dawn of November,
with a flag and the sound of a gun?
When our heroes return in their coffins
to the bugler’s lonesome call;
and the wives and mothers are weeping
― for they have lost most of all.
Did they give their all in battle
for a brush with the news-hour fame;
for a medal and commendation,
of their soon forgotten name?
Was there purpose in their fighting
or did they die in vain?
Were they sent to war for no reason,
a pointless cause in the main?
When the day comes dawning,
and the final result is zero,
we will recall the brothers and sons,
who were named as returning hero.
We will stand and we'll remember,
and salute their forgotten youth;
each year, in the dawn of November,
as we consider the bitterest truth.
© 2010 : Colin Gordon-Farleigh