Thank You For Your Service

by Mephisto927
(Hilo, Hawaii, USA)

He made the choice to go
To do what he thought right
Someone else made the choice
Where he’d go and where he would fight
Thank you for your service

Find the cost of freedom buried in the ground
Find the courage in comrades, proud and honor bound
Find the price of dignity in how they treated him
Find the cost service, paid by each of them
Thank you for your service


Now he sits and they wheel him, to the back of the plane
Others volunteer to take his place in coach
Eyes full of tears, heart full of shame
Bureaucrats made the decisions, always beyond reproach
Thank you for your service
But now you make us nervous

Was it worth the sacrifice, was it worth that price
Was it worth his leg, was it worth their lives
The country he loved had turned its back on him
Cut his food stamps and benefits on some political whim
Thank you for your service
But you make us nervous

He goes to honor the fallen from wars past
To remember sacrifice and hope that wars will forever stop
“They’ve barricaded entry” politicos cry aghast
They use him as a photo-op
Thank you for your service
Please vote for us


Was it just a pipe dream
His fervor and his zeal
How did honor become a meme
Was it ever real
Thank you for your service
How did it turn to sh-t

Some scream silently at all that has hurt them
Some lash out in fear
Some take it inside and punish themselves
Others on those near and dear
But the ones they blame least of all
Were their battlefield brothers
Thank you for your service
To you
and all those many others