Freedom Isn't Free by Kelly Strong

 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 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 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 is not Free!

 

©Copyright 1981 by Kelly Strong

Used with the author’s permission.

Original Analysis of the Poem

   In order to gain freedom for our country, we must be ready to sacrifice our life. Next, this poem is to honour those brave soldiers who contributed their service and express our utmost gratitude for the service of members of the military. It conveys respect — specifically to those who gave their lives in defence of our freedom. Finally, they united us in a way that is virtually extraordinary in our nation's history.