Heroes: For Philip

There are heroes loose on the ground
Of our everyday lives;
Heroes we can’t bother to see or hear
Through the noise and the hurry-up
Of the daily round.
The world gets smaller and our isolation increases
And it seems like the hate and impatience
Never ceases.
Yet I am a paradox
For my world has slowed down:
So many doors with locks
And too much pain, way too much fear.
But in this terrible isolation my eyes have grown clear
Granting the sight I once struggled to obtain.

Now I can see a hero that others might miss.
Because heroes are only humans, not the saints some insist
Must always be perfect – whatever that means!
There is no perfect, no life without struggle,
Little justice, no home team;
Most closeness an illusion.
But there are heroes among us –
You’ve only to look
And try to tune out the noise and confusion.
Because it’s not like they told us
Or wrote in some book,
Not endless bravery, not daring,
Not the chances they took
To win some move in some complicated game.
No, it’s always simple and always the same:
The courage to be caring
When the world goes insane.

So if you think heroes are gone from this modern time
And you think that from the simple motive of love
People no longer can be kind;
Take a look in the mirror
At the person looking back at you
And when you wonder if you’ve accomplished all you could do,
When you wonder if you’re all that you thought you could be,
When you’re discouraged, perhaps, by this world of complex lies.
Just think for a moment about what I perceive:
The hero I see
When I look in your eyes.