America!

by Paul Martin Freeman (January 2025)

__________For the inauguration of President Donald J Trump, leader of the Free World
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Oh, giant of the western hemisphere!
Colossus of the gently setting sun!
Where liberty is held supremely dear
And fight for truth and justice never done.
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A nation born in blood and revolution;
A hardy people struggling to be free,
Who gave the world a dazzling Constitution
And partied on the waterfront with tea.
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A nation built by huddled immigrants
Fleeing persecution, poverty and war:
Arrivals in a land of innocence
Where other Nations had arrived before.
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A nation torn apart by slavery
That battled for its very life and soul;
That witnessed acts of signal bravery
Exacting catastrophic human toll.
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A nation forged anew in wars abroad:
In carnage on the Marne, the Somme and Aisne;
And then on Juno, Utah, Gold and Sword
And Omaha, where many fell again.
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But other wars and conflicts, too, contrived
To cause dissent and tear that soul apart;
Yet still this Nation under God survived,
So indestructible its prayerful heart.
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Oh, complex melting pot of many races!
Oh, blazing image of modernity!
Whose mountains, forests, plains and mighty places
Evince the Mystery of Eternity!
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America! You tower above us all
And like a rocket, climb towards the future.
What epic tale could ever so enthral
As yours from wagon train to bit computer?
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What heights will you, America, not scale?
What frontiers fraught with danger not traverse
As now, with courage unafraid to fail,
You gaze upon the boundless universe?
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God speed, America, we honour you
And call you here to witness on this stage
A President with instincts bold and true
And dawning of a coming Golden Age!
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