Freedom Isn't Free

by Sylva Killion
(Cleburne, Texas, USA)

Come with me to see the monuments;
each one etched by artists
to honor soldiers past and present.

Hear the silence as our soldiers
stealthily traverse the unknown terrain in Korea.
Smell the stench they smelled
as the day of firing ammo ended.

Feel the cold stone of the Vietnam Wall;
cold hard stone with names upon names
of men and women who fought for their country,
the price being their lives.

Taste the sprays of water
at the WWII Monument
depicting one war fought
across two different oceans.

See the battle ready ships;
hear the cries of the dying.
Feel the cold vast emptiness
of the open seas and
the lives lost to them
for our country to save.

Come with me to see our freedom
fiercely defended by men and women
past and present.

Freedom isn't free.