Soldiers' Plea to Lady Liberty

by Soonja L. Reiter
(Bend, Oregon)

Lady Liberty, you are the hope we see - on your island there!
Lift our torch of freedom that you bear, hold it high!
Keep your sparkle in the sunlight,and your shimmer in the moonlight;
But remember us: We are the ones who carry on your fight,
We are the ones who fight and die.
We're your red, your white, your blue; Always true to you
Always true to you, always true to you!
But the skies we see now are red at night; whatever happened to our
memories of those clouds so white?
We're so lonely for our own land, it's true, where skies are made of blue
We are your soldiers on the ground, your sailors on the sea, your pilots soaring through the sky (line repeats)
Remember us .... with your prayers, please. (line repeats)

THEY always say "you're coming home", but NO ONE tell us when;
THEY just say "by and by..."
We ask them, "When?", but they just say, "by and by", never tell us why; just repeating, "by and by".
We're tired, we're hurting, much too sick to be left here
on our own
But they will always say, "by and by"
What our hearts feel; what we want the most to do... is be
returning back to you,
Lady Liberty, Lady Liberty, Lady Liberty
Back to you, back to you, back to you, ....... back to you,
back to yououuuuuuuuuu... (plaintiff voices trail off)

THIS WAS A POEM THAT I PUT PIANO MUSIC TO AND HAVE NOW ALSO MADE A RECORDING IN MY HOME STUDIO.