When I Was Just a Small Lad

I Looked up So Proud,

I Saw the Stars and Stripes

And I Recited out Loud!

I Pledge Allegiance

My Young Voice Cried,

To the United State of America

And to the Freedom for Which -

                        So Many Have Died!

I Pledged Allegiance

To the Republic for Which it Stands,

To the One Nation under God

I Folded My Hands!

As I Recited My Pledge

To the Indivisible Country,

I Whispered a Little Prayer

That Really Seemed -

                   Very Important to Me!

I Was Pledging to a Country

That Promised Liberty and Justice for All,

Not Just for a Few

          No ! Really, Really -

                       They Meant it for All!

So Everyone Can Be Free

We Go to the Polls and Vote,

Everyone Has a Voice

We Proudly Gloat!

No One Is Supposed to Be Left out

We Should All Have a Say,

But I Find That Is Not Always True

I Just Found That out -

                           Just the Other Day!

I Found That Some of the Meanings

Of the Pledge Have Changed -

You See,

They No Longer Seem to Mean

The Same Things That They First Meant to Me!

I Recently Read That an Iraqi

General Had Died,

Around His Face an American Sleeping Bag Had Been Tied!

An American Military Officer

Who Recited the Pledge Right Along,

Sat on the Generals Chest

Until All of His Air Was Gone!

I Don’t Think it Was

Was the Right Thing for Him to Do.

And I Find Myself Wondering

If He Thought He Was Doing it -

              Doing it for Me and for You!

I Wonder Which Clause of the Pledge

He Thought the Generals Death Would Uphold,

Was it an Act under God

Or Was it Liberty and Justice -

                                For All to Behold! 

I Read That Yet More

Of Our Soldiers Across the Sea,

Were Fighting in Afganastan

They Claimed They Were Fighting -

             Fighting for You and for Me!

But I Never Recall

Casting a Vote to Tell,

Those Soldiers That They Could Murder

A Prisoner in a Jail Cell!

They Went into His Cell

To Question Him You See,

And While They Were There

They Beat Him Unmercifully!

When They Came Back

Some Time Later That Day,

The Found That the Man Was Dead

They Really Felt -

      Like They Had Earned Their Pay!

When Their Commander Was Asked

If These Murderers Would Go to Jail,

The Prisoner Could Have Died of Natural Causes

That Was His Tale!