Independence

I wrote this one on July 4, 2008 after reflecting on what happened on that day 232 years prior.

Vibrant star of morning

In such resplendence

Cast your warning

On the eve of independence

 

Do such valiant souls

So ardent and virtuous

Roam the grassy knolls

For a cause so hopeless

 

The challenge insurmountable

To bite that hand that feeds

To hold the crown accountable

For such devious deeds

 

Over frigid ground

Doomed men tramp

Without making a sound

Or the light of a lamp

 

There is cover in the night

But only for precious hours

Now looms a ghastly fight

Soon blood shall soak the flowers

 

This is the eve of war

And the papers ask

Is it freedom they fight for

To take the crown to task

 

For such taxation

Was an imprudent choice
Without representation

The people had no voice

 

Enraged with enmity,

Such a transgression

Shall not go with impunity

Nor shall oppression

 

Seasons grow long

Many lives are lost

Still they stand strong
For freedom, there is a cost

 

Transcending the anguish

The insurgency, with tenacity

Held a victory, once a wish

As they revel in it’s veracity

 

A general now revered

Ascends to the seat of power

With the pathway to freedom cleared

This is their greatest hour