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 his uniform ~
So young, so tall, so proud
With hair cut square and eyes alert ~
He'd stand out in any crowd
I wondered how many men like him ~
Have fallen through the years
How many died on foriegn soil ~
How many mother's 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 buglar play ~
And felt a sudden chill
I wondered just how many times ~
Taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had covered a coffin ~
Of a brother of a friend
I thought of all the children ~
Of the mothers and the wives
Of fathers, sons and husbands ~
With interrupted lives
And I thought about the graveyard ~
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington ~
No, Freedom isn't Free.
A poem written in 1981 by
AFJROTC Cadet Kelly Strong
Homestead High School, Florida
