Hero

“Hero” is about a child in search of answers. The widowed mother lovingly concealed the full truth about the premature death of the child’s father fearing it might lower the child’s self esteem. The child grew up hearing only glorious stories about the loving, caring, creative, and talented man that he was. But there was always more the child wanted to know, and the child finally decided to find out everything about this legendary man.

Hero

I set out to find my hero
A man so much bigger than life
Mom never spoke much about him
She just said she loved being his wife.

He died when I was a baby
I never got to know him at all
Photos were the only memories
Of this man who stood ten feet tall.

So I sought out my Dad's family
They were close by all along
But they wouldn't say much about him
So I knew there was something wrong.

I found a place among them
Where I knew that I belonged
And I started to piece together
Just what I feared all along.

I learned about Dad's problems
And I learned about his flaws
I learned about his suffering
And I learned about the cause.

I learned about the tragedy
That took his life so early on
And I think I know how Mom felt
After my Dad was gone.

I visited his resting place
And shed my share of tears
Then the mystery started unraveling
After almost thirty years.

I always felt so cheated
'Cause I never got to know him
All the things I couldn't do
And the things I couldn't show him.

But now I finally realize
Just why Mom protected me
She helped me hold my head up high
And become all I could be.

It strikes me as so ironic
That Dad's no longer ten feet tall
And Mom is the one who was bigger than life
It seems I found my hero after all.

Steven Pein
31 July 1994
Copyright 1994
.