Upon Meeting My Hero

They told me, 

"Don't ever meet your hero, 

because a hero 

can never stand as tall 

on the ground 

in front of you 

as on the pedestal 

you have built for them. 

Heroes are not real people," 

they told me, 

"they are pen on paper, 

scripts and make-up, 

soft filters and good light." 

But I know better. 

I know heroes are real- 

as real as the mother 

who made raising eight children 

look easy. 

As real as the gray doctor 

sitting patiently 

in the college classroom, 

refusing to give up 

until a cure is found. 

Heroes are as real as 

the people across the street 

and down the block 

and sitting in traffic 

next to you. 

They are a seat forsaken on a bus 

and a bag of groceries 

paid for and delivered. 

They are sidewalks shoveled 

and walls painted 

and songs sung to crying children.  

So if you are ever lucky enough 

to meet your hero, 

remember, 

the heroic lives in you, too. 

You have sonnets in your soul 

and epic battles in your eyes. 

You are Jason, 

Hercules, 

Harriet Tubman. 

You are no less feet on the ground 

than head in the clouds, darling,

so do not step down 

from the pedestal 

I have placed you on.