Do you see the lives you couldn't save?

I always saw you

 As the man who would get back home

 Later than other fathers

I was a little scared of you

And overawed because everyone saluted you

 You were always posted somewhere else

 And came home once or twice a month

 Sometimes fewer, 

You always brought me something

 Some little gift

 Even at nineteen

I think that is all you do,

Being a father

But you are a person too,

 With your own insecurities and fears

How do you live through it,

 Rescue the dying and come

 Back home to us,smiling for me?

How do you do it, Papa?

How do you wake up each day

Not knowing if you would come back to us?

Is that why you can't sleep at night sometimes,

 And you say it's because you are growing old?

Do you see the lives you couldn't save?