If not, then what?

I wish there was another word,
a word not so much
devalued. A word to escape the
tarnish of celebrity, the
stain of idolatry, the
banality 0f Saturday sport.

If I could only find a better word, more
able to embrace the
stubborn resolution,
a word to enshrine the valour.
A word to harness the
fathomless grit
of the few.

The few who care, who dare, who
embrace the fear of the many.
Those few, who nurse, who diagnose, who
stop what they are doing to
tenderly
hold a hand.

Those who deliver, who collect, who
serve, distribute, drive, make, invent,
smile and wave, whose names
we’ll never know, who hold
at bay the virus, this
plague of our time.

Hero, tired, timeworn,
both word and worker
but they do not deserve each other.
Hero does not speak to
the majesty
of their gift.

Thank you to all of our visible and invisible, known and unkown essential workers