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Open Poetry #14
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desperado
Member
since 1999-05-24
Posts 312
FT Hood,Tx

0 posted 2001-06-14 05:31 PM


a single flower
a lonesome flag
a distant soldier
freedom is not free

the price of freedom is death
the cost is high and hard to bare
the soldiers in the field hope for peace
and pray for war

pray for war to prove themselves worthy of praise
pray for war to bring honor to friends
pray for war to face their fears
and pray they won't be killed for their glory

for it is in battle that men are formed
from the boys that dwell in our mind
and it is these men who live on to remind us
of freedoms cost and the pain we find

so join me as I pray for war
and hope for peace from the sky
for the price of freedom isn't free
and it's always a little too high

People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid. --Soren Kierkegaard

© Copyright 2001 James Webster - All Rights Reserved
SEA
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Member Seraphic
since 2000-01-18
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with you
1 posted 2001-06-14 05:37 PM


I hope we don't have any wars.....I realize the men in the service are there...protecting our feedoms...but the last thing I want is for them to have to die.....I hope it is enough that they are there.....their sacrifice is great.....
bslicker
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since 2000-12-04
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state of mind
2 posted 2001-06-14 06:05 PM


Wow, this is a good write.
But i will have to say that this is not so, for the last few times of battled conflict, on which we fought for the rights of freedom and brought our kids back home, no honors did they recieve, when they so well deserved.  Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, etc. and I can keep the list going.  Unless you count the many times our Vets get turned down for medical treatment, turned away from the government agencies that should be fighting for the Vet alive or dead that agent orange or the bio-war chems used in the Gulf War really did exist, not till many years later when it is to late to treat...  For I am a Navy Vet.  as my grandfather and father, with my oldest is in the Army and youngest going in the Navy this fall... While yes i do believe that every youngster coming out of high school (male or female) should have to serve our military for at least 3 years.... I do not..... let me repeat DO NOT pray for war.  I can not take the death, the injured, the forgotten, and still no hero's. But yet, that we so proudly served our strips and stars, war or not.

Yes "freedom is not free", these words were well said.

A smile a day keeps the world in smile's.
Bernie Slicker

JamesMichael
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA
3 posted 2001-06-14 06:42 PM


War is pain multiplied by heartbreak and sorrow...James
Julie Jordan Scott
Member
since 1999-09-19
Posts 146
Bakersfield, CA USA
4 posted 2001-06-14 09:51 PM


Well written, Desperado.

It brought to mind my recent viewing of "Pearl Harbor"...my mind raced as I watched that movie. One of my favorite lines was when Rafe spoke of going to war as an American for the British. His words were "I want to matter."

Underneath the words of battlefields which you write of rather eloquently, I see the battlefields we face every day.

When we enter into our personal battlefields is when the pain is the greatest and when the victory is the sweetest. Without entering those personal battlefields, we fall asleep to possibilities. We fall asleep to life, and love, and freedom.

It was that inspiring statesman, Patrick Henry, who said, "Give me liberty or Give me Death".  When I think of those words, I also think of the personal freedom I experience in my life through being an entrepreneur rather than working at my former job.  I think of the personal freedom I experience in being a publisher, writer...freedom to creatively express myself.  

Freedom is NOT free. I have had to endure a LOT to get to where I am and I know I will continue in this battle. Yet the battle is joyful...the war, I like to think, is well fought.  Our greatest triumph as a planet is if we ALL hear the call to war and say YES! to its call.

As for the armed forces: I pray for them continually...and your words remind me of the need to do so.

With Purpose and Passion,

JULIE JORDAN SCOTT

I am a Life Purpose Coach who specializes in assisting
men and women to clarify their Life Purpose and then in turn
live true to their purpose. Aft

Saxoness
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since 1999-07-18
Posts 1102
Texas
5 posted 2001-06-19 07:44 PM


Very impacting poem.  

On the non-technical side - I really like what you're saying here.  That first stanza really opens things up for the reader.  I think...sometimes people forget what it really means to be a member of the armed forces.  People get wrapped up in the politics, even going as far as criticizing and withdrawing support from the men who serve because they disagree with the current political leader.  It's important to remember that regardless of that, those men are out there, losing their lives, protecting our right to voice those very opinions.  That position not only deserves our respect, but our admiration as well. I guess that's the message I really got out of this, among the other words you wrote.  

On the technical side...just one minor thing, the title needs a little alteration. "Pray for war" sounds like you want people to pray for the possibility of being able to war with others.  I don't think that's what you were going for. Other than that, enjoyed it.

"Glory remains unaware of my neglected dwelling where alone
I sing my tearful song which has charms only for me."

Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612
Hurricane Alley
6 posted 2001-06-19 09:49 PM


I cannot pray for war, I'm sorry. Peace!
vlraynes
Member Rara Avis
since 2000-07-25
Posts 8229
Somewhere... out there...
7 posted 2001-06-19 09:53 PM


desperado-
   very powerful write...
   but, i too, will choose
   to pray for peace.  
   thanks for sharing this..

   ~vicky

"...until you have read the verse on his
heart, you have not truely met the poet."
-vlraynes



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