America Arise With Open Eyes

~America Arise With Open Eyes~

Bloodless flows

My Life's blood

Through the straws of grass,

While wind-swept plains

Soar ever more

Through amber waves of grain.

Through toil and sweat and blood

You move, till life's sweetness

Sings no songs for you,

And blue become the mountains above,

As below, you shout and grow

Weary in the weeds of waiting.

Impatience incenses you, and you

Grasp for stars, all withering

From your clasp, as strong winds

Blow and bend and break

Your bow, and life's weariness continues

To ebb, and wet the fields below...

Into which flow; new streams,

New springs of life, and the

Hoary, old man moves - slowly, fading

Into the bosom of bushes of old,

Then leaps out, flaming; bringing

Torch of fresh growth, born

Into the field of man...

A bud's chance to blossom, to

Change, and bring within range,

The spectacle of new life -

Born. To give grace, and brush

The soul of an old goal, long

Deserted in the fruitless

Plains of modern man...

While the old one wrenched

Free, straining at the bit of

The ox-bow, and fell short, yet

Strove, and tried again to breathe

Free. And lo - was lifted into the

Sky: the wings of the shoeless

Ones, the crippled and broken ones...

Who remained aloft, though

Chains sought to bury

Them beneath the soil of

The ones so long forgotten.

Yet, streaming into their mind,

Came the chant of life:

"Though crippled and chained to

The earth, you may be, your

Shame shall cease, as you

Gaze above at the blazing Son

Of Love." And so, the cripples ones,

And tortured ones arose, and were

Freed, and turned and spoke:

"Desert your barren

Packs of dust and straw.

And look to the One, True

Shining Star; for there

You will envision

What was meant to be

For you and me:"

"For the poor and the rich,

The sightless and the seeing:

To join hearts, in one belief;

Hearing and achieving:"

"The song of the wanderer,

The song of the free,

The song of the poor,

And the song of the blest.

To be the best of both worlds,

Entwined hand in hand with

God, with Nature, and Man."

©2006~Poetry by Amber
{~Swan Song~}

~Penned by Amber~
~September 18th 1990~