Heart of Courage

By Cherbo Geeplay This, to the commanding officer who led his troops to war, on one knee and won in the trenches on the battlefield littered with landmines. I held your portrait sir, this morning with trembling palms, dressed sharply in your uniform, gleaming boots fastened to your feet. I talk this over with my son: who is this Kaepernick, he asked, so I dropped the topic. Thought, he was too young to understand warfare and the men who wage them. My honor to know a soldier of your heroism seized me, tells me, wars can be won without people being shot, just, by asking, why? Volley of bullets wouldn’t have to penetrate the bodies of men, but can prick the hollow apostates of partisan whiff on a day conscience won, sparking a revolution across the sub-continent. I fete you dear commanding officer, for your stealth. II The certificates of your citizenship have been studied and assumed worthy, even by the enemy you defeated. The questions have been asked on the battlefront and at headquarters by field officers and generals alike, barred by their superiors from whispering your name. Probing: what does he want, who is this man? But on the subway, morning and evening trains commuters whisper your muddled name still. Holding you in their hearts like mothers hold their babies. I have slogged the asphalts of long memory dedicated to soldiers of your tradition, like a madman looking through the relics reserved for your kind, searching for your badge, and yes, there it is. It hangs right next to, Owens. III Surprised, then yesterday my son came home. A basketball hikes under his arm, giving me a long winded look like hot knife ready to melt a lard, then he knelt on his right knee, saying nothing, got up, and went to his room, tears in his eyes. I noticed also, he had began an afro. He discovered you on his own.The salt in his eyes, that welled up his tears, I report have since been washed away. Today, he is bolder like the bull that charges, but calm like these ocean waves once in revolt. Oh Col., so he did come to know you after all, as I wished, because underneath that fine uniform draped in medals beats the heart of courage in steel. _______ Copyright ©? 2019, Rigorous Literary New Orleans This poem was previously published under the title 'Col. Kaepernick.'