Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
......
I
We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage
And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die,
We Poets of the proud old lineage
Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why, -
What shall we tell you? Tales, marvellous tales
Of ships and stars and isles where good men rest,
Where nevermore the rose of sunset pales,
And winds and shadows fall towards the West:
......
185
"Faith" is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see—
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.
This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain:
"Send not your foolish and feeble; send me your strong and your sane --
Strong for the red rage of battle; sane for I harry them sore;
Send me men girt for the combat, men who are grit to the core;
Swift as the panther in triumph, fierce as the bear in defeat,
Sired of a bulldog parent, steeled in the furnace heat.
Send me the best of your breeding, lend me your chosen ones;
Them will I take to my bosom, them will I call my sons;
Them will I gild with my treasure, them will I glut with my meat;
But the others -- the misfits, the failures -- I trample under my feet.
......
"There's no sense in going further --
it's the edge of cultivation,"
So they said, and I believed it --
broke my land and sowed my crop --
Built my barns and strung my fences
in the little border station
Tucked away below the foothills
where the trails run out and stop.
Till a voice, as bad as Conscience,
......
I love you
For reasons unknown
Unseen, unspoken, untouched,
Just because love.
I love you
For a purpose hidden
Precious, blessed, divine,
Just because God.
......
In a perfect world, you and I could saunter— free.
Breathing fresh, salt-licked air.
Where the ocean reaches for our feet, and the sun melts into the sea, and the sky drapes over its long lost twin.
Where the forest and the sky and the land love humanity dearly, like a neighborhood that could thrive for eternity.
In a perfect world, there would be no bicker of capitalists and environmentalists— merely political empathy.
I dream of boring news channels.
When red, white, and blue don't seem so embarrassing, nor disgraceful to half of the country, and "liberty and justice for all" hugs "all" comfortably.
When the government is wed to candor bound by the promise of life and liberty, and diplomacy relieves, and monopolies fancy consumers' well-being.
......
I will not fear. I will not be afraid.
Send your servants, and have custody of my eyes.
Send those that know, and I shall know them.
May I look up and find halos.
May I witness to the six pair of protection— the divine relayer of message.
If it takes over a month, I will kill my flesh.
I will embrace holy strength and forego these urges.
Father, may I master discernment.
Lord, I know not the full truth.
......
66 books lay between us.
Innocent love— it's all that I want.
Fingers interlaced; shoulder to shoulder.
Our feet propped up on the living room sofa.
Ask for permission.
Prioritize your own health.
Be honest. Be ambitious.
Care for strangers— gently relentless.
......
There he is...
On his biz
Unbothered and untethered
After many pernicious pulls and tainty tugs
And so many ghastly grabs and sheisty shrugs
After huge stretches with hopes of breaking
And so much tension, pressure and shaking
Every time!
......