A Hero’s eye-view and a Coward’s eye-view
Are exactly the same.
An EYE-view is simply the sizing up of a situation.
The ensuing emotions and actions are what separate
Hero from Coward.
Fear overtakes them both equally, but
The coward runs backward for self-preservation, while
The hero runs forward, for any number of reasons.
Regardless of emotion or direction, both can end up quite dead,
Sitting on top of the ambulance,
Watching their “rescue” unfold.
First, a camouflage shirt with no legs is pried from the wreck,
Then, a red hunting vest, pierced by the steering column.
EMT efficiency retrieves the legs and zips up the body bags.
The coward says to the hero, “That was close! Let’s get outta here.”
“Yep,” the hero answers with a smile. “We almost had to stay alive.”
“You mean we’re dead?”
“Yep. That was your old camouflage shirt.”
“Oh, God! I can’t die! I’ve got too much life to live,
Places to go, women to see! What about all my stuff?”
And the coward jumps back into his legless body.
“Too late,” says the hero, who begins fading up into the Light.
“Dang it all!” The coward’s head pokes out of his bag.
“Next time, you get to be the coward!” he yells.
“Nope,” calls out the hero. “Been there, done that.”
