If I'd been given the choice,
you know I would've stayed.
Grown a little more gray,
a lot more wise,
fought a few more fires,
saved a few more lives.
If I were given the choice,
I'd come back one more time
to see and touch
te ones I miss
I'd dry one tear,
steal one kiss.
And if I were to choose
where you'd etch my name,
I'd ask, this field
beneath the Rockies,
where mountains tower
above the plains.
Carve my memory
in this granite,
here with these
who teach the world
what lion-hearted bravery is,
each time another flag's unfurled.
written by Captain Aaron Espy
