Daddy, Faster

(Inspired by Strider's poem "Tommy's IED Homecoming")

It was another typical Monday
About that time to head to lunch

The sun was shining though I didn't much notice
Too focused on emails, taskers, and suspenses

So out on the veranda I walked, distracted
Around the Army hospital that once was Walter Reed

I looked up when I heard a child's laughter
It was a little girl shouting "Daddy, faster"

What I saw stopped me in my tracks
A little angel sat on her daddy's lap, golden locks flowing

She was riding with him in his wheel chair
Going as fast as they could with racing, giggling joy

You see he lost his legs in Iraq, or Afghanistan
Or some other forlorn place most have since forgotten

For a moment, I thought about all he sacrificed and lost
The ability to walk, to one day dance at his daughter's wedding

The sadness knocked me over like the wind had been taken from me
Tears flowed in steady streams down my normally stoic face

But then I smiled, my happiness returned
As I saw his wife and her mother running after them both

For you see then I remembered how lucky he was
To have returned home a hero, to be surrounded by love

Wiping my eyes, I did an about face
Going back to my office to call my wife and tell her I love her