America's Defender

America’s Defender

To defend and protect
the Constitution
of the United States -
a promise and a prayer
for strength and resolve
in the face of fear.
The soldier stands with honor.

Weariness and boredom,
stress and intensity,
the military man
faces his day undeterred
by criticism or praise
keeping his focus clear
honed to a sharpened edge.

Seeing Old Glory fly,
the strong man fights a tear
threatening to flow down
his hardened face.
The stains of other times he’s cried
fill his heart, but his mind stays clear.
He is America’s defender.

The harder it becomes
to hear and bear the slights
against his beloved country -
from without and within –
the more resolved he stays
hoping there does not come a day
when he must make a stand…

to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States of America from enemies foreign
and domestic.

Author's note:  I know there are women as well as men serving proudly and bravely in our military, but for the sake of this poem I used the masculine to keep it simple.