If you are able
Save for them a place inside of you
And save one backward glance
When you are living
For the place they can no longer go
Be not ashamed to say you love them
Thought you may
Or may not have always
Take what they have left
And what they have taught
With their dying
An keep it with you own
And in that time
When men decide and feel safe
To call the war insane
Take a moment to embrace
Those gentle heroes you left behind
Save for them a place inside of you
And save one backward glance
When you are living
For the place they can no longer go
Be not ashamed to say you love them
Thought you may
Or may not have always
Take what they have left
And what they have taught
With their dying
An keep it with you own
And in that time
When men decide and feel safe
To call the war insane
Take a moment to embrace
Those gentle heroes you left behind
By Major Michael Davis O’Donnell
Poem source here
Image source here