ON GUARD DUTY

Written for Stormy Lady's Weekly Poetry Contest

ON GUARD DUTY

I left the hotel this morning
And soon boarded a plane to go home;
I'd served my time in the Army
With cold lonely nights, so alone.

I had just turned twenty-one
When the open roads beckoned me
And I signed up to serve my country;
Do my part to keep America free.

Days were long and life seemed empty
I was so very far from my home;
Many nights on guard duty
The cold sinking into my bone.

Somewhere there is another soldier
Standing tall; yet lonely and cold
Who is there to fight for our freedom,
Going in young and coming out old.

Fill your nights with prayers
For the men and the women who serve;
Whose roads led to the place
Where they live by spirit and nerve.

Countrymom
1/4/03