~ ~ FREEDOM IS NOT FREE ~ ~
I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then He stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought, how many men like him
Had fallen through the years?
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, Freedom is not free.
I heard the sound of "Taps" one night,
When everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That "Taps" had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea,
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, Freedom is not free.
~ ~ Cadet Major Kelly Strong ~ ~
Air Force Junior ROTC
Homestead Senior High School,
Homestead, FL.
1988
~ ~ MY VETERAN IS HERE ~ ~
There is a long road in life
Filled with potholes and clay.
There is a long road in
life
And all Veterans have gone that way.
The sweat from their brows,
Their muscles aching and reeling;
The short nights of
sleep they had,
Do I know what they were feeling?
Heavy equipment on their backs,
No permanent place to call home;
Trudging up and down
hills,
They were together and yet so alone.
Pictures
in their pockets
Of their loved-ones so dear;
Getting
weathered and tattered,
As they silently shed their tears.
Some faced battles and death
And returned with heavy hearts.
Some daily answered
their Country
And did not see the battle scars.
All did what they had to do
Through self-discipline and strife;
In order to serve
the Red, White and Blue,
They prepared to defend my
freedom and life.
As a kindred in
spirit
From the U.S. of A,
In a moment of silence
I want to thank all Veterans today.
And as a woman,
Who holds a man's heart quite near,
I thank my God of Understanding
That my man, the Veteran,
Lives freely and lovingly here.
~ ~ Author Unknown ~ ~
Created April 4, 2003 ~~~~ Updated July 12, 2008