Analysis of Soldiers Freedom

Andy Kraus 1985 (Pennsylvania)



Coming back from war
This soldier can't return 
To a life of freedom 
Those memories will always burn

A hole left in my heart 
By the brothers I have lost 
Where is their freedom at
What really was the cost

We bonded over time
We bonded over meals
No more bonding now because
Their wounds wouldn't heal 

I came back to reality 
Where they came back in caskets
How could I have stopped them
From returning in those baskets

No amount of training 
Would have stopped my brothers deaths
Now I sit here alone 
Just wishing to hear their breaths

Surrounded by my loved ones
Surrounded by my friends
No longer surrounded by gunfire 
But this reality continues to bend

I can't unsee those memories 
For they are a part of me
But my brothers have none at all
And I wonder if it's because of me

There is no real freedom here
Because those memories are like stains
Bleached forever in my mind
I feel that I am to blame

I could not save those souls
For they were lost before we left 
Only God had that control
Now all I've done is wept 

I still can't help but wonder
Why my brothers are gone 
What could I have done different
To hear just one more song

Songs we used to sing together
During our moments of fun
But then I realize that singing
Came from the barrel of a gun

We fought for each other
To keep each of us alive
While fighting the enemy
To live is what we strive

But now I'm home alone
With no freedom to be had 
Because my brother's are gone
And my mind is always sad.

So what freedoms do soldiers have
The dead or the living
We are trapped forever 
With what we had been giving

Soldiers don't have freedom
We never will again
For we are soldiers forever 
We are so much more than men


Scheme XABA XXXX XXXX CDXD EFGF XXHX XCXC XXXX XXXX HIXX HJEJ HKCK GLIL XEHE BMHM
Poetic Form Quatrain  (60%)
Etheree  (27%)
Metre 10111 110101 101110 1100111 011011 1010111 111101 110101 110101 110101 1110101 11101 111110 1111010 111111 10100110 101110 1111101 111101 1101111 0101111 010111 110010110 111001011 1111100 1110111 11101111 0110110111 1111101 011100111 1010011 1111111 111111 11010111 1011101 111111 1111110 111011 11111100 111111 11111010 10101011 11110110 11010101 111110 1111101 1100100 111111 111101 1110111 0111011 011111 11101101 011010 111010 1111110 101110 110101 11110010 1111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,713
Words 341
Sentences 2
Stanzas 15
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 60
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 89
Words per stanza (avg) 22

About this poem

Life of a soldier who comes home after war realizing he truly has no freedom because of what he has been through.

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Written on November 11, 2023

Submitted by Andy.C.Kraus on November 12, 2023

1:45 min read
46

Andy Kraus

Retired (medically discharged) Soldier out of the United States Army. I am not a combat vet, but that doesn't mean I don't understand it. more…

All Andy Kraus poems | Andy Kraus Books

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