FREEDOM ISN'T FREE

My dad sent this to me in an email yesterday.  He notes, "This was in the Langley Lodge review, it didn't give the authors name, but I hadn't heard it before and thought others should have it as well."  I fully agree, a beautiful tribute.  Thank you to the author, whoever you may be.

FREEDOM ISN'T FREE
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I watched the flag pass by one day,
  it fluttered in the breeze.
  A young Soldier 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 broken hearts and unmarked graves.
   No, freedom isn't free.

No, Freedom Isn't Free!


If you like freedom,
Thank a Veteran.