a story about a hero

i imagine it to be somewhat of a sunny day that we last walked down that road. it ended right at the river, where the locks were. there was a bridge over them, and to our left that you and i had walked across many times prior to that day. sometimes we would throw our un-popped kernals from our cracker jacks over into the water. you told me once that you swore the fish liked them. i never doubted you for a second. you knew your stuff. i never told you, but it was one of the main reasons i liked to walk with you every day. i always learned something new from you. every single day.do you remember that night that we ran down into the subway just to hear the man play his violin? there was nobody there, and surely, you said, that it was a shame that more people couldn't listen to this glorius music, as it would probably be able to cure many of the problems in the world. and then i fell and skinned my knee, and you had to carry me home.
there are times i remember sitting on that old rusty swing in the park with you. (you know, the one that we swore would break if we didn't take our shoes off first for fear they might be too heavy?) it was always nice sitting there by you. we'd feed the ducks and watch the people walk by. you always knew people. you knew everything about them before they had time to hide their thoughts. we'd sit there, and tell stories, and you'd smile. i always loved it when you smiled, because i knew that it wasn't just you smiling. it was like the whole sky and everything beautiful went into your smile and shone out your eyes and your fingertips, and even your toes. (it's probably a good thing we always took our shoes off, because they'd have probably not been able to hold in your radiance and i'm sure would have shattered into a million pieces under the pressure.)
growing up in forever together was something that i treasured with all my heart. i never really got inside of you, but it was okay because you were completely within myself. so no matter where i was, or where you were, we were always there, and always living. as many other lives as you saved, i knew you loved each one new, and each one more than anyone alive is capable of loving. once, i accidentally got jealous, because you were gone and i had made you your favorite dinner and you missed it. i sat and searched for my comfort, but when you got home you showed me my selfishness and kissed my forehead and calmed my heart. i know that a hero has many important things to do, and i realize that many people are in need of a hero besides myself. you've already made my life perfect. you just complete it by loving me more and more every day.
on occasion we would walk through the park and climb in the trees. you once showed me how to watch out for others. somehow you managed to catch me when i fell, only to smile and hold me right back up. we sat up there for one week and i watched you. i watched you think, and i watched you sleep, and i watched you ache and i watched you give. at the end of the week, you helped me down from the tree and we walked down the road to the river.
you must have known it would happen. you must have, i can not imagine you not knowing. i can not imagine you not knowing that that day we were to walk to the river would, indeed be our last. you must have known, when you told me you had to tell me something, that things were not going to turn out how you wanted them to. i can not imagine you not knowing that i was incorrectly thinking it would be just like any other day with you. shortly to be followed be another one, and another always, til the end of the world. i can't imagine how you must have felt knowing that that car wasn't going to stop. and i can't imagine how you must have fought with God when he told you to let me walk to your left. i can not imagine how much your heart ached to not be able tell me it didn't matter that my shoe was untied, because the river wouldn't mind my informalness.
but alas, i will never be able to walk with you again, as i am laying broken on the pavement. you saved my life, you know. just in time for me to be able to go home. that's why they call you a hero.
every once in a while, when the sun is going down, i watch you walk through the park to the tree we climbed together on so many occasions. i watch you, oh my broken-hearted warrior and i stay there right by your side always. i will always be behind you, carrying the pieces of your heart and holding them so tightly that none will ever be lost. you are complete within me, and i am now completely within you. therefore you are at last, complete within yourself, and although you walk the road to the locks with no one by your side, the path narrows over time, and you'll continue down it forever on and past eternity. that's why they call you a hero.