Monday, May 28, 2007

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,
He'd stand out in a crowd.
I thought how many men like him
had fallen through the years.
How many had 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 brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of 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.

-Author Unknown

11 comments, add yours here:

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

really nice post! really nice...

smiles, bee

Sarge Charlie said...

very good post mom, so true and so real......

Crazy Working Mom said...

Thanks, guys! It's great to live in such a great country. :)

Gattina said...

This poeme is one of the nicest I ever read about war ! and it's more then true ! It's life just thrown away for nothing.

Travis Cody said...

A fine poem and a beautiful tribute.

Schmoop said...

Wouldnt it be great that in a generation or two that we wouldnt have to have a Memorial Day!? Cheers...

Cheryl Wray said...

Beautiful poem...and so true!!
A wonderful day to remember all those who have sacrificed so much!

Tawnya Shields said...

Wonderful poem!

I tagged you for a meme. If you want to do it that's fine, if not that's cool beans too. :o)

Sandee said...

This is what today is all about. Excellent. Happy MM and Memorial Day. :)

Amazing Gracie said...

Well, it's hardly a "life thrown away for nothing!" And we will always have a Memorial Day regardless if another war is never fought! There ARE those who died righteously for such reasons as liberating Europe!!! Is that throwing away a life for nothing???
Good grief! Do I like war? Hell, no! But if someone doesn't stand up to a Hitler, what then??????

Crazy Working Mom said...

I agree with Gracie! I can NOT imagine telling the mother of a fallen soldier that his life was "thrown away for nothing"! Nobody likes a war, but nobody likes a tyrant either!
Innocent people are killed every day, war or no war.