By Douglas J. Lanzo

First published in WestWard Quarterly’s 2020 Summer Edition

America – Blessed by God and graced by people,
From every rooftop to Church steeple,
Resilient – Full of compassion and good will,
Faithful to its founding principles still;

Rising up to overcome the trials of each age,
Revolution by citizen-soldier, did it wage,
For liberty and democracy across the nation,
For equal justice, regardless of station;

Through fiery crucible of Civil War,
Abolishing slavery to help restore,
Freedom, equality and a voice,
To those suffering in bondage without choice;

Our nation has risen to every occasion,
From Great Depression to enemy invasion,
Battling to enshrine the things we hold dear:
Womens’ Suffrage, Civil Rights, living without fear;

We now find ourselves in an epic campaign,
Against a deadly pathogen, which seeks to reign,
Threatening the fabric that holds us together,
Testing the limits of what we can weather;

Onward, soldiers, united as brothers,
Together as sisters, fathers and mothers,
Caring for each other as one family,
Marching in stride against calamity; From the tops of each  mountain, to every valley and shore,
Let us, as fellow Americans, strive to restore,
The health of our country and the American Dream,
Our cherished way of life, may we together redeem.