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I Watched A Flag Pass By
Posted by Raven on May 25th, 2008
I Watched A Flag Pass By
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 isn’t 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 isn’t free.
- author unknown
May 25th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Amazing poem Raven. Our men and women of the US Armed Forces are certainly an amazing group. May their sacrifices never be taken for granted…
May 26th, 2008 at 12:46 am
Thank you for the timely reminder, Raven.
As I ponder the poem, I would phrase that last line somewhat differently: freedom may be free, but for some it costs them everything.