I wrote this poem. Please use it in any way that will help people to understand the wrongness of torture and violations of human rights. Please pass it on to others to use.
A Child’s
Pledged of Allegiance to the Flag
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 Also 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!
So All of this Makes Me
Makes Me Wonder Some How,
How Did Our Pledge Change
Why Are We the Way -
The Way We Are Now!
Didn’t Enough of Us Go
Go to the Polls and Vote,
Maybe Too Many of Us Just Sat
Just Sat at Home and Gloat!
Or Did We All Decided
That Our Pledge Should Permanently Change,
The Whole Constitution
We Should Conveniently Rearrange!
If We Are Truthfully a Noble Nation
A Nation under God,
Can We Really Give These Murders
An Approving Nod!
If Our Pledge Does Mean
Mean Anything to Us,
Openly These Murders
Our Country Should Discuss!
If We Don’t Believe in Liberty and Justice for All
As the Pledge Does Say,
Then Lets Start Teaching Our Children
The New Words Today!
Liberty and Justice
the New Words Might Be
God Lets Us Kill
If Public Homage -
They Don’t Pay to Me!
I Write this Anonymous Poem
Anonymously You See,
For I Now Fear That My Government
Might Do the Same Thing -
to Me!
