Other Stuff

A little rhyme and meter …

 

The Wise, Heroic Man

by Judy Ransom, 1981

 

I met a man while out tonight

Quite plain, with no high style

He made a gesture we should talk

And I agreed to stop a while.

He spoke of our great country

He’d served for many a year

I could see his glowing pride

As he opened his heart without fear.

He told me of a demonstration

Where students lay on the tile

Protesting a country they hated

Yet he worked on all the while.

Then about a week later

He was dressed in uniform

And a very young lady approached him

With eyes of a raging storm.

“Were you there when we lay on the floor?”

She asked him eye to eye.

“Yes, I was,” he answered

And then he asked her, “Why?”

“Were you offended?”  “No, not at all.”

Her inner rage did rise.

“We were protesting you,

It’s people like you we despise!”

“Well, young lady, I’ll tell you,”

He calmly answered her roar,

“My life I would lay down

So you could lie on the floor.

Just keep doing your thing,

And I’ll do my very damned best

To insure that all your days

You’ll have the freedom to protest.”

The young lady had no reply

As he calmly walked away

With a sense of inner triumph,

For he knew she’d changed that day.

I’m glad I stopped to talk

With this wise and heroic man

I thank God for all those like him,

Who protect our free homeland.