American Flags
red white and blue
fluttering in the breezes
Moments of crowd silence
the taps mournfully playing
Throats tighten
tears begin to flow
as memories of loved ones flood
as we look upon long lines
of white tombstones stretching
across the rolling hills

Freedom is not free
though for me and thee
it can be not costly
for we are here
to live our lives in prices paid
by these, the fallen, on our behalf

Walking past the tombstones
the dates call out the places
where men traveled, then fought and fell
to speak no more
to touch no more
to begin to lose their faces
Can we remember, see them smiling?
Less and less we see
that they were little babies
nursing at their mother’s breasts
They were students learning, graduating
surging out across life’s oceans
making their way in the larger world