My heroes don’t wear capes or camouflage
Don’t snipe from sand dunes or hide behind mirages
Don’t shoot hoops in Nike shoes
Or praise Jesus while supporting corporate issues

My heroes hold hands on picket lines and tear gassed streets
Wear blood red wounds from aggressive police
Sigh and cry for the innocent
Try and try against impossible odds
Sing songs of freedom
Not the military type but the kind that social movements keep bringing

And they are still bleeding
And they are still singing
And they are still marching
And they are still dreaming

My heroes keep
Carrying children from the wreckage
Running into burning buildings
Bandaging wounds
Holding the hands of strangers who are in danger,
Sheltering strangers, feeding strangers,
Caring for the poor,
Singing songs of love,
Putting down their guns and refusing to ****
While they pass out water bottles on the battlefield

These are my heroes
And they are still healing
And they are still singing
And they are still loving
And they are still dreaming

I used to dream
of being a great man
a heroic man
the kind that songs are sung of
stories are written of

The kind of man that leads people to victory
that sacrifices for the greater good
noble, honourable and courageous

But I realise now;
I am none of that - but;
I am a content man,
I am a happy man
In the end, I think I prefer to be happy
I think...

Be Brave and Be Outspoken,

Be Beautiful and Be Wise,

Be Stubborn and Be Heroic,

Be Rebellious and Be Crazy,

Be Strong and Be Kind,

because at the end of the day,

when all is said and done,

you will have no regrets.

When writing poems there is no right or wrong.
It may be plain or sound just like a song.
Heroic couplets aren’t the only way.
Yet people always have to have their say.

It may be perfect, it may be not.
Just lose a syllable
Or go completely
Free.

Read unnamed samples of some classic works and you will see
That often you can add the names yourself.
They are distinctive.

A Shakespeare,
A Keats,
A Milton
Or a Yeats.

What matters is whether a poem works,
In some way,
At least for yourself.