America..What Price Liberty?

by Steven E. Thompson
(Methuen, MA)

Tears rolling down the gravestones..of our loves...

That are deafening statues to a liberty..whose flame never failed us..

She wraps her lovely face in stars and stripes..
and feels the pulse of a nation..

Growing before her eyes...a humble bliss in a troubled world

Scared ...full of scars...torn and tattered.....

Still full of faith in a shining star called freedom..

Hope carries his friend home.

Into the fear ..into the death ..into the war..into the peace..

Into understanding... Into love

Into the courage to stand for the weak..

Melting pots are we..from every single country

An America..an ever forming sea.

It shall never continue without that mixture of you and me.

One kiss in peace..that takes the breath out of you..

One kneeling troubadour singing God Bless America..

One child tapping to the beat.....free..to be

America..an expensive piece of love..indeed..

Fills me so..I can't explain for words can’t feel it..

Oh America..thank you .

For who shall the waves fall..for the sound still so mesmerizes us..

Maybe for those who were lost at sea..

Their voices in the surf speak to us

And so freedom summoned them..from the great depths..

A current of passion under calm waves..

So they can sleep with her there..

Caught in her stillness..in her summer breeze..

Where every thought breaks into a sweat..
we try to understand her silence..

Her strong imagination..feeds our dreams ..
overwhelms the common in us..

Sets our purpose on its head..

The fingers of her leaf..pointed to the shade of another day..

And how it was so cool to have lived there..

Are we really breathers of someone else's air..

And are the shadows the only things left
of those who paid the ultimate price

Can we ever forget?

Who shall fix the price of liberty..and if all the heroes die..

Who is left to be free..and will they be able to keep it.

Liberty's river flows through the valley of us..
overflowing with words of meaning..

To the very meadows that we ..so needed.. watering.

Blessed of skies of freedom..where self sacrifice paid its golden blood..

Bled for those they never got to know...its fruits for long

We honor you.

And life is so worth the struggle...even on its down-stroke..

For to spend yourself..
on something you think worthwhile like freedom...

Is the hero in you...speaking

Brothers and sisters of love..multicolored and beautiful..

Shall walk in America's future ..one skin we will share..

As we should have in the beginning

Wash me in the blood of the humble O Lord..
before my star crowds the sky

And when the dawn's early light..puts on his clothes ..the red white and blue colors just seem to fit..

A flag that waves to help the oppressed..
no matter how dark...it still must be true..

Who can divide the heart..when it bleeds faith..and beats hope..

And loves his neighbor..and forgives their weaknesses.

For in the light of God’s love ..freedom’s face does emerge..

Colorless and colorful..

Always worth the love of the greatest sacrifice man or woman can give..

Their sacred lives..

We hold you so deep...

And though you sleep..in our hearts..

Your love we shall keep..

Let us pray.. for those who can not speak their thoughts today..

Where freedom of speech is what someone else thinks it is..

And the equal sharing of nothing lives on their blood..

How safe is that sand ..on the beach..
where you are not allowed to kneel..

And thank your God.

Where justice is fear.

Everywhere revolution of spirit ..still resounds..

A civil war of love and hate..throughout the world..

Hoping God's grace will shed its motherhood on them.

We can taste your desire to be free....smell your unspent rain of hope

We stand ready to help you hold on to tomorrows
and let go of yesterdays..

And help you to start to believe in..a shining star...

That's called Liberty..