Sonnets For Soldiers
Sonnets and Poems for Soldiers
Below are sonnets and poems that honor soldiers and others that keep our countries safe and free.
I inaugurated this lens on Memorial Day Weekend (USA) 2011. The newest addition is Two Young Men written in November 2013 just before Veteran's Day.
These poems are especially good to read for Veterans Day poems, Memorial Day poems or anytime you want to remember and honor the men and women who have fought valiantly in war.
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All poetry copyright Mindy Makuta (aka MyFairLadyah) Reprint with Permission
For Soldiers and Those Who Love and Honor Them
Two Young Men - a sonnet for soldiers - takes place during the American Civil War
Two young men barely seventeen went forth
Leaving grieved mothers crying salted tears
One from Virginia and one from up North
With bravado and swagger past their years
The rebel boy marched with columns of gray
Heading to Gettysburg out to the west
A rail car ferried the Yankee away
Answering President Lincoln’s behest
Limp bodies bloodied the battlefield girth
Shreds of uniforms lay scattered afield
Shards of metal embedded in the earth
Some men yet salvageable to be healed
The Southern and Northern sons trudged towards home
To grow up loyal to Washington's dome
Poems for Soldiers
Too Soon - a sonnet for soldiers
Too soon shall we mark more precious lives lost
O’er the dusty gray hills scattered with scree
Defending liberty at such a cost
Leaving mother and wife and child empty
Peace of Utopia cannot be reached
While darkness clouds minds to be filled with hate
Someday this barrier too shall be breached
For wisdom and respect to flood the gate
Til then the soldiers defend unashamed
Honoring Country though their risks are great
Witnessing their comrades bloodless or maimed
Mentally shouldering burdensome weight
When they, should they, return from death’s cold door
Assuage their pain and love them the more
Sonnet for a Soldier
He walked by the plate glass and caught my eye
In camo chin to heel upright and proud
This was a soldier, not your average guy
Defending our liberty from evil's shroud
A beret sheltered him from the light rain
That thickened the mid-day Arkansas air
Would he compare this to lands full of pain
Where he tried to help amid deep despair
This man made a choice to serve our nation
Giving self to discipline and peril
Being at the ready for a conflagration
Lest the civilized men become feral
The young man nodded slightly at my gaze
Acknowledging our hopes for brighter days
Helpful LInks
- The Wounded Warrior Project
Wounded Warrior Project Provides programs and services to severely injured service members during the time between active duty and transition to civilian life. - The USO
The USO is a private, nonprofit, non-partisan organization whose mission is to support the troops by providing morale, welfare and recreation-type services - Military Family Support
They proudly support the families of our military heroes! These heroes are the men and women of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, National Guard, Coast Guard, and Reserves!
For Those Who Died on Foreign Soil
Lines of white crosses on the coastal hill
Mark a better spot than those unmarked
No matter, we remember their lives still
Though neither flowers nor stones be parked
Think of those souls who bravely fought
On earth or sea far from the home place
And of parents and brides who solace sought
But have no marker a wreath to grace
Poems of the Battlefield
Patriotic Poetry
Rules of Engagement
Two armies of men in warrior dress
One on the left hill, one on the right
Will meet in the middle to wrongs redress
As rules of engagement direct the fight
Beat the drum, sound the pipes, as battle is waged
How august is the clash of arms and steel
Generals to foot soldiers duly engaged
Too soon the somber bells shall peal
Turn, turn, the ages and wars have passed
Snipers and terror wait behind tree and stone
On the rocky roads death is dealt by a blast
New rules of engagement in this nether zone