Memorial Day: Freedom is Not Free

The sun has returned today, after three days of clouds and rain.

So today, as we go about our picnics and barbeques, shopping and summer fun,

we will pass by Old Glory, flying in breeze outside Ragamuffin house,

and take a moment to remember those

who gave their lives in battles on American soil, and in foreign lands.

Freedom is Not Free

by Kelly Strong

I watched the flag pass by one day.

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 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.

Picture Credits:

Soldier Salutes Flag in Iraq, Baristanet

Bugler at Memorial Service, Vietnam: Army Quartermaster Museum