Kiss The Flag

It was a big holiday and I had volunteered
to help the local school kids when the time was near
for the afternoon speeches on the city park lawn –
I was setting up chairs for the folks to sit on.

There was a platform up front and some bleachers in the back,
with folding chairs in the middle and a little snack shack
set up by the bleachers with hot dogs and pop,
and a sign that said, "Little League Dogs" on the top.

Across the back of the platform, about twenty feet wide,
Were thirteen U.S. Flags, lined up side by side –
Twenty feet straight across full of red, white and blue,
A solid rainbow of colors with the stars shooting through.

I just grinned at those flags in the bright summer sun
and felt the pride in my heart for the things we had done
in the name of our country and the things we hold dear,
and then I noticed a man climb the steps and walk near
to the flags – he reached out and took hold of the stripes,
and felt the cloth in his hand, and kissed the red, and the white.

He walked the twenty feet in silence and never saw that I was there.
I watched him touch a couple more, and he seemed to say a prayer.
Then he walked on down the other side and disappeared from view
and never said a word to me, but all too clear, I knew –

Kiss the flag for a fallen hero, touch the flag and remember a Vet.
Feel the spirit of those souls who gave their all to pay our debt.
Freedom isn’t free you know, folks say that all the time,
but it’s good to stop and think about the facts behind that rhyme.

Someone has to pay the price, ‘cause it really isn’t free.
The rights to say the things you think, and to be what you can be
were purchased with the sacrifices made for you and me.
Now you and I must pay the price to keep this nation free.

We pay it with respect for those brave troops who go to war,
and with vigilance, against the fears that spread within our shores –
the fear to rock the comfort boat, and of those who rationalize
that we don’t need to stand and fight – we all can compromise.

There is no way to compromise the payments on that debt.
Kiss the flag for a fallen hero, touch the flag to thank a vet.
Then stand and join together, keeping always in your heart
the spirit of those souls gone by, so you can do your part.

- Duke Naughton

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