heroes all around us

Never safe,

never free

from those bombs

and their impact

only she can feel.

Always alone,

always targeted

by zipping bullets

and their direction

only she can see.

She has no ally,

she has no security,

but a tiny white tablet

and a pen

that’s running out of ink.

And yet.

Never giving,

never taking

from the hands

reaching for her

and her joy.

Always breathing,

always risking

another blow

that could destroy her

at any moment.

She is brave,

she is loved

by the enemy

and its victims

enduring her same pain.

And she spat out that poison.

She tended to her wounds.

She knelt in No Woman’s Land.

And she won the war.

(r.w.)