Higher Gas Prices Are
a Small Price to Pay
For years, “Death to America”
_is the chant that we have heard.
When someone threatens me with death,
_I take them at their word.
So now, once more, our nation is
_pursuing a solution.
I ask myself, what is my role?
_What is my contribution?
I do not wear the uniform
_as I did once before.
I do not have a loved one in
_the theater of war.
I do not have to guide the nation
_through this time of stress.
I do not face the hatred of
_opponents and the press.
I won’t be blamed when soldiers die
_in service to the nation.
I won’t face claims or charges of
_a war crime violation.
Nothing is required of me.
_Not courage, smarts or grit.
Our leaders lead. Our soldiers fight.
_I sit and watch—that’s it.
My only cost is at the pump.
_It’s high now, but will tumble.
And free speech means I have the right
_to groan and gripe and grumble.
The Founders pledged their fortunes, lives
_and honor. Risked it all.
Compared to theirs, my sacrifice
_is really rather small.
I’ll drop my streaming services,
_give up five-dollar coffees,
a concert, ball game, dinner out,
_my chocolate cashew toffees.
Our freedom isn’t free. That’s true.
_So I won’t fuss or chafe.
I’ll gladly pay the extra bucks
_to keep my family safe.
Mark F. Stone worked as an attorney (active duty and civil service) for the United States Air Force for 33 years and is retired. He began writing poems in 2005, as a way to woo his bride-to-be into wedlock. His poems have been published by The Epoch Times, Light, Lighten Up Online, The Ohio Poetry Association, The Road Not Taken: The Journal of Formal Poetry, Ric Edelman’s The Truth About Your Future podcast, and the Seeking Alpha Alpha Picks podcast.
Mark, your poem exudes common sense patriotism. Laid out in simple logic, your words deftly do away with the impetus many persons might have to groan and gripe and grumble while paying their price to cancel a death threat and make the world safer. The little list of luxuries in the next-to-last stanza reminds us of how much we benefit by freedom.
Mr, Stone,
First off, thanks for your 33 years of service for the U.S. Airforce. Greatly appreciated!
I really like the natural tone of this poem — it reads naturally conversational — quite a feat when rhyming. Very well done!
Amen to this poem!
Excellent, Mark! You really put things in perspective.
An excellent job on an extremely meaningful issue, Mark. As you have here, I pen a lot of patriotic-themed pieces myself. Is it merely a coincidence that we share first and last initials?? 🙂 I, like you, have no qualms about occasionally having to work on a somewhat tighter budget due to what those in charge HAVE TO DO to keep out country safe from those who ARE and that will never stop trying to do us major harm. Thank you for posting it…
Mark, you expressed my sentiments beautifully. As a fellow retired officer, I fit each verse perfectly. Thank you for your service, your patriotism, and sharing these perfectly framed and rhymed thoughts with us.
So perfectly expressed….Freedom isn’t free. As civilians we are kept safe from the ravages of the front lines of war, the price we pay is very small.
This poem lands its message with clarity and restraint, which is harder to pull off than it looks. It’s a reflection on personal sacrifice during national conflict but instead of dramatizing heroism, it deliberately shrinks the speaker’s role. To me, that contrast is one of the poem’s strengths. What also really stands out, is the shift in perspective. The poem begins with an external threat, moves through a sense of national response, and then narrows inward to the speaker’s own position. That progression feels intentional and grounded. By the time you reach the final stanzas, the message isn’t abstract, it’s personal and even practical. The closing comparison to the Founders is a strong rhetorical move. It reframes inconvenience (higher gas prices, small lifestyle cuts) as minor in the grand scheme of sacrifice. Thanks Mark, this really hits home!
Thanks you for this: Content and form.
There is of course art in the form of this, but the overwhelming feeling is one of quiet sincerity; like this very much indeed, Mark – excellent work.
Though I agree completely with the thoughts, sentiments and the general tone of this poem, I still worry about the enemies within whose only wish is to drag us down into the gutters they inhabit and make us partake of the raw sewage they spew. And as others have noted, the simple direct language used here is utterly crystalline.
I’ve read your poem a couple of times, Mark, and although I sympathise with Americans not wanting other nations to shout ‘Death to America’ in the streets, the American-centric obsession with the price of gas I thought seriously trivialises the global situation, as does your administration calling a war that has negatively impacted every man, woman and child on the planet as an ‘excursion’, an ‘operation’ or now, a ‘skirmish’.
Here in Mauritania, West Africa, the gas (petrol) stations have almost all run out of fuel, and transport costs have risen. Food prices have also noticeably increased, which means some of my students will be coming to study hungrier than they usually are – if they can get here at all. And if the poorer members of society are paying more for food, something has to give, maybe fees for their children to go to school, as is already happening in other parts of the world.
My wife spent weeks ‘sheltering at home’ in Abu Dhabi as debris rained down from the sky. As for Dubai in the UAE, how’s its tourist industry going to recover now that it’s no longer seen as ‘safe’?
I’m due to travel to the UK in July, yet flights are being cancelled by the thousands due to the growing jet fuel shortage, so I have that uncertainty to deal with. Maybe I won’t be able to see my kids again for another year.
When there is a shortage of fertilizer (which there is), food yields suffer, people go hungry, people starve. When the power goes out, the food in your fridge goes bad, you can’t do anything after sundown and children die in incubators if there’s no fuel for hospital generators. These are the consequences beyond the gas station forecourt.
Of course, the irony is that the Strait of Hormuz was open to free trade before this dual blockade by America and Iran, vying to show who’s the biggest hard ass.
So that’s the situation beyond the shores of the US. Now you can shoot the messenger, unless I get moderated!
Wars cause a lot of trouble and collateral damage for lots of people. Didn’t you know that?
It has no bearing whatsoever on whether a war is necessary or not.
First, I would like to thank everyone who was kind enough to take the time to comment on my poem. Your favorable comments are wonderful, and I thank you for them. Second, I respectfully request that this thread not turn into a debate on the wisdom of undertaking the war effort. While I personally agree with Professor Salemi’s point, I also know a lot of people who share the views that Paul has quite ably expressed. I am happy to receive comments on the merits of the poem, either positive or negative, and would be grateful if the political debate could be conducted outside of this thread. Thank you!