Ooooh, USA!!!
Wrtten especially for you
By the QOE
In honor of Independence Day
July 4, 2017
Here comes my nation’s birthday: Protector of the World:
A bastion of freedom with a starry flag unfurled.
My country, my adopted land, of generous mind and heart:
Her countless brave lie sleeping beneath the tear-stained earth.
Salute her Native culture, their long enduring blood
Now pulses with the millions, who make America’s brood.
They came from Europe’s masses, some came from other shores
To stake a claim for freedom where few had walked before.
Sometimes a hide-clad foot had trod the acres that they cleared:
Sometimes furred forest creatures were all who ventured there.
Hard working folk, who cleared and tilled, who fished and hunted, too,
Risked very lives to journey here, to simply start anew:
For a century plus another, plus forty-one more years,
That dreamers’ destination, first glimpsed through desperate tears.
How well I do remember her two-hundredth celebration:
A glorious ceremonial, appropriate to her station.
A treasure for the British Crown, by taxes long ill-used,
Her people finally rose up to end a King’s abuse.
Washington and others led a rag-tag little band,
They hadn’t much equipment, just the guts to take a stand.
So, they threw a Revolution…and everybody came:
The natives and the British, and Lafayette, by name.
This day in seventeen-seventy-six, they made their declaration:
Washington and his merry band became this very nation.
She’s North America’s mother hen, in many ways her best:
History, wars and critics have put her to the test.
Yes, she needs better health care, absolutely better beer:
Yet people all around the world are yearning to be here.
The thirteen Colonies evolved into a string of states,
Which over time increased to be the lower forty-eight.
And finally to fifty, what a patchwork of mankind!
At the helm a string of presidents…more-or-less favorite sons.
Americans are generous, they’re moved by others’ plight,
Yet prone to flaring tempers, often ready for a fight.
They’re just as ready to defend the needs of helpless others,
Taking seriously the precept to be keepers of their brothers.
Orators and rock stars, have grown up to earn fame:
Lending credence to our culture and honor to its name.
The Rights of Man are still in style: Justice rings a bell.
Free speech may be her driving force…and, oh, they do that well!
This is a culture of fast food, but snail-paced legislation!
Despite our many foibles, we remain a noble nation.
I am grateful to this country, celebrate her Special Day:
May God scourge the Halls of Congress and thus bless the USA!
