Let Freedom Ring

I was standing at the polls yesterday to elect president of a free country
Looking at the phenomenal turnout and thinking what a great country

Here we are, founded on freedom, born against great odds
Built generation by generation, a free society blessed by God

Government of the people for the people by the people, none if it was free
A lot of people before us paid with their lives, so we could live free

The great cost of freedom, Veterans day is coming soon to remind us all
It is hard to imagine any American not knowing sacrifices made by few for the benefit of all

We are thinking of our bills to pay, children to tend, cars that need servicing
Work to be done, people to account to, lawns to mow, laundry to wash, and Christmas is coming

But somewhere, as we drink morning coffee there is an American marine
Who stood guard all night at an embassy to safeguard our interests therein

And somewhere, while I am reading the newspaper is an American soldier
Rising in his tent in a third world country for his shift to trigger

On an ocean far away, in the bunk of a battleship an American ensign
Returning from a long shift's work as I load my washing machine

As I leave for bank, in the heat on a tarmac there is an airman preparing the jet and a pilot checking off
The jet will burst through the cloud at speed of sound and patrol the skies as I leave the bank

A gentleman with a pain of long ago injury, in the afternoon as I walk the aisles of a grocery store
With silvery hair and a perceptible limp will shuffle along a VA hospital corridor

In the evening as I wash the dishes and the sun is setting and the sky is brilliant magenta, a wife will kneel at a gravestone
a mother will look longingly at a photo, a child will wonder why daddy won't be coming home

As I lay down to sleep at night while the watchman watch and the nation is secure
Crickets will begin their nightly chorus among perfectly aligned white crosses & headstones 

Somehow my thanks doesn't seem enough as I must be ever vigilant to safeguard my freedom
Stars & stripes flies briskly against the backdrop of blue sky, many have paid dearly for this freedom

Maola Burhanuddin teaches us that "hoobbul watanay minal Iman(1)"
May he live long and healthy ta qiyamat and always in perfect amaan

(1) Love of one's country is part of Iman

Abd-e-Syedna, TUS - Shk. Husain Jamali, Anjuman-e-Burhani, Los Angeles, CA