combat writing badge C O M B A T
the Literary Expression of Battlefield Touchstones
ISSN 1542-1546 Volume 03 Number 03 Summer ©Jul 2005



The Drummer



      He was just a little country boy
      Had no shoes on his feet
      Was living in a house on the edge of a field
      Next to crowded rows of wheat
      He was a bit over three feet tall
      With the blondest hair and sky blue eyes
      Brothers and sisters counted twelve
      A large country family size
      He was just a little poor boy
      But didn't know how poor
      He had that shining little drum
      His momma bought at the country store
      Always he'd dreamed of playing
      In a mighty marching band
      Remembering the day his momma came home
      Was almost more then he could stand
      Oh that little country boy
      Ran down that old worn lane
      Sat by the dirt road playing
      Rat-a-tat, for anyone that came
      He grew and grew and became quite tall
      A new drum replace the tattered old
      But he never had that chance to play in a band
      Had to work hard he was told!
      His chores were all but done
      That bright warm sunny day
      As he ran down that dusty lane
      For anyone who passed he'd play
      To his great amazement
      Broken men in blue and gold
      Marched limping and bleeding
      Down that old worn dusty road
      His eyes filled with tears
      When he saw torn red, white and blue
      And a boy much younger carried it
      Oh what could this poor country boy do?
      So he stood up strong along that road
      As the broken soldiers passed
      Rat-a-tat, he played his drum
      To keep in step until the last
      A tap came on his shoulder
      Turned, an officer to see
      Son, I need your drum today
      To help us march and keep you free

      He's playing our freedom song
      In a much mightier marching band
      And every mile they marched along
      United they would stand!



by Vicki Rose Ann Swift Landis
... who is a freelance writer, with poems published in Poems and Short Stories for the Military Family, and lyrics produced in songs by Hilltop Records.




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C O M B A T, the Literary Expression of Battlefield Touchstones