Sincerely, Old Glory

A poem my wife wrote years ago that I recently stumbled on again. She would never post so I am doing it because I love the poem and think others will too!

 

Glory's beauty will reveal

What dark defeat tries to conceal

On beaten soil and fractured land

She prunes and toils with weathered hands

 

She shields the helpless and the weak

And cleans the wounds that demons wreak

She'll build a fortress strong and tall

Yet cover those whose bodies fall

 

She feeds the hungry, young and old

And reaches out sore arms to hold

A soldier's bloodied head at last

A final touch, a life now passed

 

Her efforts may appear in vain

Too much work and little gain

They shout to her, "Give up and go!"

She answers them, "There's more to know"

 

What you ignore and cannot see

Is hidden in our history

We reap the goods we don't deserve

Because our fathers chose to serve

 

For freedom's sake, they bore their arms

Protecting me from others' harm

With wounds that took them to their graves

It was my life they died to save

 

I cannot pay the debt I owe

To those, whose gifts, I now bestow

On nations born in freedom's name

On foreign grounds I stake my claim

 

Their sacrifice is mine to bear

Their victory is ours to share

You sweetly savor that which cost

You nothing but for which I lost

 

A warrior who pledged his life

To save you from your worldly strife

He did not even know you when

He answered my call to defend

 

Purple mountains, fields of green

Oh what beauty mine eyes have seen

You stand where soldiers lay at rest

And shout your hatred and detest

 

But you don't know from whence you came

Or you would then retreat in shame

You hypocrites, your selfish pride

Is just why my friends fought and died

 

They gave so you could then receive

But you can't see for which I grieve

I mourn their valor, lost on you

Who revel in the hate you spew

 

But judgment is not mine to give

I cannot tell you how to live

Or give you peaceful words to say

Or air to breathe for one more day

 

But lest you think you've silenced me

And tasted phony victory

The voices of the strong and true

Still shout and will demolish you

 

So don't you dare tell me to leave

I care not much what you believe

For I was born of a patriots fury

Don't you forget, my name is Glory!

 

 

Author's Note

What Genre would you have selected?