Until the End

Twenty years ago, one of the biggest stories in the Australian media concerned a young Adelaide man who had been captured fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. After a military trial, David Hicks spent more than five years at Guantanamo Bay.

This was a complex case muddied considerably, and shamefully, by national security politics in the U.S. and Australia.

As the Australian Government, media and public raged against his son, his father Terry was interviewed by one of our major newspapers. He argued calmly and with great dignity that his son deserved legal representation and a fair trial.

I was a new father, working long hours and trying to work out what being a dad meant. Terry Hicks’ love and compassion for his son taught me something.

Until the End

I told you once 
I'll tell you again
I'll keep on telling you and I'll tell them
I'll tell you now
Like I told you then
That I will stand by you until the end

I don't know much
And I don't pretend
That I know how the broken pieces mend
But I'll tell you now
And I'll tell you again
That I will stand by you until the end

Push me away, if you will
I will be here waiting for you still
And in time maybe the troubled seas will calm
And I will hold you once more in my arms

I'll tell the world
Or I'll tell one
But I'll shout it from the rooftops until I'm done
I'll fight your fight
Until I'm spent
And I will stand by you until the end

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash