One Nation, Under God Poem by Gregory Krabbe

“I pledge allegiance”, “What does that mean”? , The little boy asked of his Dad, “We say it sometimes in the morning at school”, Continued the curious lad,

The Father knelt down, by his eight year old boy, and said, “why don’t we talk for a minute”, “It’s important you know what a pledge really means, understanding the words that are in it.”

“A pledge is a promise, that’s spoken out loud, it tells others some thing you will do”, like a promise to love for the rest of your life, like I pledged to your mother and you”,

It started a long time ago I guess Son, as a way to remember our past,
It gave folks a chance to tell others out loud, together we’ll make freedom last,

It’s a way to remember that flag we salute, is a symbol for men who have died,
A people that won’t be divided or used, in spite of the many that tried,

Allegiance is more than a word in the pledge, a person must mean what they say, Our founders made pledges a long time ago, and that’s why we can live here today,

It’s important you know how much people gave, to make sure that America’s Free, some people forget, and others don’t care, but I hope that you’ll take after me,

See I understand what so many have lost, the lives of our soldiers who have given, people like us and the ungrateful as well, a wonderful nation to live in.

So know every time your reciting that pledge it means more than a memory verse, it’s a promise reborn to live free every day, not something we simply rehearse,

And pray as you say that pledge of allegiance for the families who ever will mourn, the loss of a life they never expected to lose when that soldier was born.


-Gregory Krabbe
Greenville, SC
krabbegreg@yahoo.com