A Soldier stood and faced his GodWhich must always come to passHe hoped his shoes were shiningJust as brightly as his brass."Step forward now, you soldier,How shall I deal with you?Have you always turned the other cheek?To My Church have you been true?"The Soldier squared his shoulders andsaid, "No, Lord, I guess I ain'tBecause those of us who carry gunsCan't always be a saint.I've had to work most SundaysAnd at times my talk was tough,And sometimes I've been violent,Because the world is awfully rough.But, I never took a pennyThat wasn't mine to keep...Though I worked a lot of overtimeWhen the bills got just too steep,And I never passed a cry for help,Though at times I shook with fear,And sometimes, God forgive me,I've wept unmanly tears.I know I don't deserve a placeAmong the people here,They never wanted me aroundExcept to calm their fears.If you've a place for me here, Lord,It needn't be so grand,I never expected or had too much,But if you don't, I'll understand."There was a silence all around the throneWhere the saints had often trodAs the soldier waited quietly,For the judgment of his God,"Step forward now, you soldier,You've borne your burdens well,Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,You've done your time in Hell."
FREEDOM ISN'T FREEI 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 unmarked graves in Arlington. No, freedom isn't free.
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.. width="425" height="350" ..It Has Always Been The Soldier. It is the soldier, not the President who gives us democracy. It is the soldier, not the Congress who takes care of us. It is the soldier, not the Reporter who has given us Freedom of Press. It is the soldier, not the Poet who has given us Freedom of Speech. It is the soldier, not the campus Organizer who has given us the Freedom to Demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag; who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, that allows the protester to burn the flag.