A girl looks up at a folded flag

Encased in a wooden box.

She remembers the day

It was placed inside

And chokes back threatening tears.

The way the soldiers made a short

But beautiful

Speech

About a veteran

Who risked his life

For many years.

She stops fighting now,

Tired of holding everything back

And the tears stream down her face.

The girl wonders

Why God takes away

The best people first.

Why couldn't he have lived

Another year?

She quietly thinks

About his life,

And everything he had done.

She prayed to God

He was smiling down on her.

And hoped

He was proud

Of what she had become,

Since her grandfather

Was the strongest man

She had ever met.