Memorial Day Taps http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2321/memorialday2002/lawson2.html Memorial Taps The flag flutters in the morning breeze That carries the brassy notes from a single bugle Across silent hills and over uncovered heads A wreath adorns the unknown warrior in his final rest While countless others sleep nearby This day these are honored with gun salutes And remembered with their families' tears But why were they taken from us at their prime? Did they not deserve the blessing of long life? Would they not wish to hold their children and see their daughters marry? What did they purchase with their youth and their lives? A lonely cold sleep in neat rows? Or the playing of memorial Taps? NO! Their price was far too high They bought the future for their children and ours O yes! And much more. For it was they who gave us free air to breathe And to others, lands where oppression is no more Because of them tyranny has not replaced common rule Nor has free will been fettered Because of them despots and dictators tremble And whole nations have been set free Let us remember them now for what they have done Not for what they might have been For surely their spirits soar now into the sun with the eagle And their country is grateful For it sent them into harm's way And they went, because it was their duty to go Now it is our duty to remember And to never forget David Lawson © Copyright, May, 1999