An Immortal~ Poem by Nika McGuin

Dewy Hebert
ardent youth
seemingly bright future...
but life's golden thread
is both fragile & short

Heroes Park in Thibodaux, Louisiana
stationed across from a bustling Dollar General Store
passed up frequently by drivers rushing about
& I too hadn't noticed it

Upon my first visit
I parked in the grassy lot
near the tiny fence door
which acts as an entrance
to this all but vacant park

It seemed that at one point,
the park had been its city's pride
they'd installed a baseball diamond & stadium,
a tiny triangular jogger's trail
surrounded with tall solar powered lights,
and the heroes monument itself:

Four marble pillars
etched, but not deeply enough
WWI, WWII, Korean, Vietnam,
& the boys who just wanted
to be remembered

And indeed at the bottom
of the monument, it read
'We Remember'

But it simply isn't true
poor Dewy Hebert's name
- among many others -
had faded & was barely legible
in WWII he fought & died
but do you really think,
he is remembered for that?

No, we are all too greedy,
so says Hazel Grace,
it is the fault in our stars -
wanting to be remembered
when we already are

By the people who truly knew & loved us
is it really not enough?

That form of remembrance -
being famous, a war hero, an inventor -
is so likened to finely etched marble,
it fades easily with the passing of time

But being remembered by loved-ones
and those we touch in our short lives
- however fleeting it may seem -
is an eternal thing
that makes us
immortal

Dewy Hebert,
you are immortal
but not because
of how you died
instead because
of how you lived