The Last Alarm

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The Last Alarm

My father was a fireman. He drove a big red truck and when he'd go to work each day he'd say,"Mother wish me luck,"

Then Dad would not come home again'till sometime the next day.

But the thing that bothered me the most was things folks would say,

"A fireman's life is easy, he eats and sleeps and plays, and sometimes he won't fight a fire for days."

When I first heard these words I was young to understand,

but I knew when people had trouble Dad was there to lend a helping hand.

Then my father went to work one day and kissed us all goodbye, but little did we realize that night we would all cry.

My father lost his life that night when the floor gave way below

and I'd wondered why he'd risk his life for someone he did not know.

But, now I truly realize the greatest gift a man can give

is to lay his life upon the line so that someone else might live.