True Sacrifice Isn't

I’ve never thrown myself in front of a bus
So that someone else might avoid that gruesome fate
I’ve never charged across a mountain pass
Exposed to enemy fire
In order to rescue seven of my buddies
My mom didn’t either and
She never received the key to the city
Any city and
I haven’t seen my mother accessorizing with
A purple heart or
The Congressional Medal of Honor
So
She doesn’t have one and
I would have been the first to say she didn’t deserve one but
A funny thing happened
I started waking up to something other than an alarm
Something more organic and more persistent
Humming or
More frequently now
Singing or
Chanting
Sometimes screaming and
I can hear it
Even when no one else can
I can hear it and
I respond
Not out of fear or
Adrenaline or
Instinct
I’m a runner
I have no instinct and
Adrenaline doesn’t keep you going for eighteen or
Twenty or
How old am I?
I choose to respond
In the cold and harsh light or
Darkness
Of morning
I choose to respond
Just as my mother and father chose to respond
Not for a medal
Though I would take one
I choose to respond because when I drag myself out of bed and
Up the stairs
Waiting for me
On the other side of a door
I have to open
Quietly
Deliberately
Is a two year old boy
In urine soaked pajamas
Who wants to hug me
It might not accessorize well
But
Even if I had to walk the better part of a day
Just to find a bus
To throw myself in front of
For it
I would