Don't call me a Hero.
You weren't even there
When I got the wound
That put me in this chair.
I was doing my duty
Patrolling disputed ground
It was just random chance
That I took a sniper's round.
You didn't see me
Moaning and crying
Totally convince I was
Bleeding out and dying.
No, the Hero was my mate
Who applied dressings that day
And stayed there with me until
The medics could take me away.
Heroes don't wake up screaming
In the middle of the night
Because the bloody flashbacks
Have them convulsed with fright.
It would be wonderful, if,
Just for one special day,
I was there as myself,
Not as the Hero on display.
Please don't call me a Hero
It's such a status to live up to
And when l let you down
As I so often do
I feel in despair
At your so obvious surprise
And the disappointment
Reflected in your eyes
Just once when they tell me
How lucky I was not to die
I wish I had the courage
To openly ask them why.
So, don't call me a Hero.
All I did was survive,
And I'm not quite so sure
You can call this being alive.
