This Land Is Our Land
© Surazeus
2017 06 04
"American democracy needs
the citizen-poet to address a gamut
of difficult-to-solve public issues
such as cultural fragmentation,
national health care, decrepit infrastructure,
threats of terrorism, energy consumption,
climate change, nuclear proliferation, warfare,
poverty, crime, immigration, and civil rights."
From This Land Is Our Land by David Biespiel.
The vast fertile land of America
was once one unified culture of thought
that supported rigid supremacy
of white Anglo-Saxon Protestant clans,
but now fragments into ten thousand groups
of people from every nation on Earth,
who all live together in harmony,
every religion and race in one land,
united strong in our multiplicity,
one nation out of many incorporate,
secured on foundation of liberty
as we sing with one voice of honest love,
this land is our land where we all live free.
So long ago in small quaint country towns
doctors would attend patients at their homes
to offer potions that heal broken bodies
with hands that comprehend needs of our minds,
but now well-trained doctors with rubber gloves
attend without emotions unnamed patients
who lie alone in silent well-lit cells
in sprawling hospitals with sterile rooms,
then charge thousands of dollars for their care
that bankrupt our families with despair
when insurance companies will not pay
for pre-existing conditions of death.
When America transformed from small farms
into industrial empire that rules Earth,
with jet planes that patrol the seas and skies,
our fathers built roads sea to shining sea
with bridges that connect across vast plains
sprawling cities with towers of steel and glass
all woven together in web of wires
beaming voices and electricity,
but now bridges rust, asphalt highways crack,
factories that produced goods are boarded closed,
abandoned behind fences of barbed wire,
and homes crumble from the gnawing of time.
Inspired by tall statue of Liberty,
that channels spirit of wise Artemis,
we fight for freedom from blind tyranny
so every person may follow their dream
through full freedom of assembly and speech
to do as we will if we harm no one,
but now religious fundamentalists
of Abramists, both Christian and Muslim,
and angry white nationalists, will commit
terrorists actions of horrible violence
against our way of Liberal tolerance
to destroy our open Democracy.
Harnessing bold energy of the horse,
our faithful friends from lush Sarmatian meadows,
we plowed fields to grow golden wheat for bread,
rode into battle to defend our homeland,
and hauled wood and stone to build healthy homes,
but now we pump oil from heart of the Earth
to fuel trains, cars, trucks, airplanes, and computers
which operate our vast network of bright cities
shining day and night with electric sprites,
and race faster and faster in vast maze
of ambitious wealth to conquer the world
while horses graze forgotten in fenced fields.
This swiftly spinning sphere of dirt and water,
that spirals around the hot nuclear sun,
produced plants that convert carbon dioxide
to generate atmosphere of oxygen
which nourishes souls with organic brains
through gentle fluctuations of temperature
in florid cycle of seasonal change,
but now factories and gas-guzzling cars
shatter the fragile ozone layer of air,
allowing radiation from the sun
to heat our globe with searing rays of light
that disrupts frail balance of heat and cold,
so melting ice will flood enormous cities
and tornadoes smash homes by flooding rivers.
Ten thousand years men fought wars to play God,
tribal leaders ruling nations of men
from pyramids, temples, castles, and towers,
by wielding scepters, swords, and guns to fight
and secure their reign through strong dynasties,
but now, since Albert Einstein dreamed that mass
of a body times the speed of light squared
equals kinetic energy of that body,
warriors build blasting bombs cased in missiles
that trigger nuclear fission to split atoms
which annihilates huge cities in one blast
killing thousands of people with black fire.
Each group of people struggling to survive
against hostile wilderness of brute nature
choose a wise leader to organize action
in ruthless battle against hungry beasts,
and thus transform into national empires
that battle each other to rule the land
of fertile meadows and fresh flowing streams,
as each dynasty of mortal kings claims
divine right to assimilate all nations,
but now United Nations meets in council
to foster cooperation through peace
between different cultures that unifies
all nations into one tribe of mankind.
Since our ancestors landed on lush shores
of America, past four hundred years,
we worked hard with our hands to build new world
and gain well-earned wealth in constructive play,
so everyone willing to apply craft
and join unions who support higher wages
could purchase a house and car to live well,
but now billionaires bribe our senators
to give them tax cuts so they hoard the wealth
they gain from the straining work of our hands,
then move their factories to foreign lands
so they can pay workers less as they slave,
thus one percent own as much wealth and land
as ninety-nine percent who slave all day
for just enough sparse money to survive.
Once every man could earn a living wage,
gaining enough to feed his wife and kids,
then send his kids to school to learn good skills
so they can work to build our nation well,
unless their skin was dark from desert sun,
brought over from their homeland in hard chains
and forced to work without pay so white men
steal enormous wealth on their sweating backs,
but now, though they were freed from slavery
by civil war to defend liberty,
they struggle to live, though denied good jobs,
and survive in cycle of poverty,
so they steal and sell drugs to gain fat cash,
refusing to work in system of wealth
rigged against their right to work and live well.
Ten thousand years ago we all spread out
from land of Egypt to populate valleys
of streaming rivers all around the globe
when first Americans walked across ice
Siberia to Alaska, and flowed down
to build pyramids and grow golden corn,
but now, since my first ancestors from England
arrived by boat across Sea of Atlantis,
people from every land of the Old World
immigrate to the Land of Opportunity
founded on the principle that free will
and equal rights of every living person
secures liberty for all to share space
and live together in communities
based on justice for all who cooperate.
Since we fought against monarchy of kings
from power of one man to rule all men
without consent of the governed to vote,
we elect representatives to write
laws that secure full rights for every person,
freedom of speech and the press to write stories
that reveal the truth, freedom to assemble,
freedom to bear arms in defense militia,
freedom from housing soldiers without consent,
freedom from search without warrants of cause,
freedom from imprisonment without charge,
freedom to be tried in a court of law
observed by an impartial jury of peers,
freedom to be treated with common respect,
freedom to work for fair wages and tax,
and freedom to live wherever we want,
secure that each person has civil rights
that provides haven to live within law.
This land is our land that we all must share,
people from every religion and race,
living according to the golden rule,
treat others as you want them to treat you
so do what you want if you harm no one,
for this life here and now on spinning world
is the only life we will ever have,
together dwelling sea to shining sea,
dedicated to the true proposition
that all people are born with equal rights.
How can we address these difficult issues
that beset our noble democracy,
designing standard ontology of truth
that describes true nature of our universe,
and provides basic law of moral rights
that harnesses passion of human action
so we can create rather than destroy
and live together in sweet harmony
in social game where every breathing person
receives same opportunities and rights?
Out of many one nation of good people
blossoms from the rich meadows of our land
so we gather at the fruit tree that sprouts
on the river that flows by the safe haven
in the garden we built with loving hearts
to feast on food we grow with our own hands
and sing the stories that describe our lives,
for this land is our land that we all share.
© Surazeus
2017 06 04
"American democracy needs
the citizen-poet to address a gamut
of difficult-to-solve public issues
such as cultural fragmentation,
national health care, decrepit infrastructure,
threats of terrorism, energy consumption,
climate change, nuclear proliferation, warfare,
poverty, crime, immigration, and civil rights."
From This Land Is Our Land by David Biespiel.
The vast fertile land of America
was once one unified culture of thought
that supported rigid supremacy
of white Anglo-Saxon Protestant clans,
but now fragments into ten thousand groups
of people from every nation on Earth,
who all live together in harmony,
every religion and race in one land,
united strong in our multiplicity,
one nation out of many incorporate,
secured on foundation of liberty
as we sing with one voice of honest love,
this land is our land where we all live free.
So long ago in small quaint country towns
doctors would attend patients at their homes
to offer potions that heal broken bodies
with hands that comprehend needs of our minds,
but now well-trained doctors with rubber gloves
attend without emotions unnamed patients
who lie alone in silent well-lit cells
in sprawling hospitals with sterile rooms,
then charge thousands of dollars for their care
that bankrupt our families with despair
when insurance companies will not pay
for pre-existing conditions of death.
When America transformed from small farms
into industrial empire that rules Earth,
with jet planes that patrol the seas and skies,
our fathers built roads sea to shining sea
with bridges that connect across vast plains
sprawling cities with towers of steel and glass
all woven together in web of wires
beaming voices and electricity,
but now bridges rust, asphalt highways crack,
factories that produced goods are boarded closed,
abandoned behind fences of barbed wire,
and homes crumble from the gnawing of time.
Inspired by tall statue of Liberty,
that channels spirit of wise Artemis,
we fight for freedom from blind tyranny
so every person may follow their dream
through full freedom of assembly and speech
to do as we will if we harm no one,
but now religious fundamentalists
of Abramists, both Christian and Muslim,
and angry white nationalists, will commit
terrorists actions of horrible violence
against our way of Liberal tolerance
to destroy our open Democracy.
Harnessing bold energy of the horse,
our faithful friends from lush Sarmatian meadows,
we plowed fields to grow golden wheat for bread,
rode into battle to defend our homeland,
and hauled wood and stone to build healthy homes,
but now we pump oil from heart of the Earth
to fuel trains, cars, trucks, airplanes, and computers
which operate our vast network of bright cities
shining day and night with electric sprites,
and race faster and faster in vast maze
of ambitious wealth to conquer the world
while horses graze forgotten in fenced fields.
This swiftly spinning sphere of dirt and water,
that spirals around the hot nuclear sun,
produced plants that convert carbon dioxide
to generate atmosphere of oxygen
which nourishes souls with organic brains
through gentle fluctuations of temperature
in florid cycle of seasonal change,
but now factories and gas-guzzling cars
shatter the fragile ozone layer of air,
allowing radiation from the sun
to heat our globe with searing rays of light
that disrupts frail balance of heat and cold,
so melting ice will flood enormous cities
and tornadoes smash homes by flooding rivers.
Ten thousand years men fought wars to play God,
tribal leaders ruling nations of men
from pyramids, temples, castles, and towers,
by wielding scepters, swords, and guns to fight
and secure their reign through strong dynasties,
but now, since Albert Einstein dreamed that mass
of a body times the speed of light squared
equals kinetic energy of that body,
warriors build blasting bombs cased in missiles
that trigger nuclear fission to split atoms
which annihilates huge cities in one blast
killing thousands of people with black fire.
Each group of people struggling to survive
against hostile wilderness of brute nature
choose a wise leader to organize action
in ruthless battle against hungry beasts,
and thus transform into national empires
that battle each other to rule the land
of fertile meadows and fresh flowing streams,
as each dynasty of mortal kings claims
divine right to assimilate all nations,
but now United Nations meets in council
to foster cooperation through peace
between different cultures that unifies
all nations into one tribe of mankind.
Since our ancestors landed on lush shores
of America, past four hundred years,
we worked hard with our hands to build new world
and gain well-earned wealth in constructive play,
so everyone willing to apply craft
and join unions who support higher wages
could purchase a house and car to live well,
but now billionaires bribe our senators
to give them tax cuts so they hoard the wealth
they gain from the straining work of our hands,
then move their factories to foreign lands
so they can pay workers less as they slave,
thus one percent own as much wealth and land
as ninety-nine percent who slave all day
for just enough sparse money to survive.
Once every man could earn a living wage,
gaining enough to feed his wife and kids,
then send his kids to school to learn good skills
so they can work to build our nation well,
unless their skin was dark from desert sun,
brought over from their homeland in hard chains
and forced to work without pay so white men
steal enormous wealth on their sweating backs,
but now, though they were freed from slavery
by civil war to defend liberty,
they struggle to live, though denied good jobs,
and survive in cycle of poverty,
so they steal and sell drugs to gain fat cash,
refusing to work in system of wealth
rigged against their right to work and live well.
Ten thousand years ago we all spread out
from land of Egypt to populate valleys
of streaming rivers all around the globe
when first Americans walked across ice
Siberia to Alaska, and flowed down
to build pyramids and grow golden corn,
but now, since my first ancestors from England
arrived by boat across Sea of Atlantis,
people from every land of the Old World
immigrate to the Land of Opportunity
founded on the principle that free will
and equal rights of every living person
secures liberty for all to share space
and live together in communities
based on justice for all who cooperate.
Since we fought against monarchy of kings
from power of one man to rule all men
without consent of the governed to vote,
we elect representatives to write
laws that secure full rights for every person,
freedom of speech and the press to write stories
that reveal the truth, freedom to assemble,
freedom to bear arms in defense militia,
freedom from housing soldiers without consent,
freedom from search without warrants of cause,
freedom from imprisonment without charge,
freedom to be tried in a court of law
observed by an impartial jury of peers,
freedom to be treated with common respect,
freedom to work for fair wages and tax,
and freedom to live wherever we want,
secure that each person has civil rights
that provides haven to live within law.
This land is our land that we all must share,
people from every religion and race,
living according to the golden rule,
treat others as you want them to treat you
so do what you want if you harm no one,
for this life here and now on spinning world
is the only life we will ever have,
together dwelling sea to shining sea,
dedicated to the true proposition
that all people are born with equal rights.
How can we address these difficult issues
that beset our noble democracy,
designing standard ontology of truth
that describes true nature of our universe,
and provides basic law of moral rights
that harnesses passion of human action
so we can create rather than destroy
and live together in sweet harmony
in social game where every breathing person
receives same opportunities and rights?
Out of many one nation of good people
blossoms from the rich meadows of our land
so we gather at the fruit tree that sprouts
on the river that flows by the safe haven
in the garden we built with loving hearts
to feast on food we grow with our own hands
and sing the stories that describe our lives,
for this land is our land that we all share.
Is it still so?
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