...America...Walt Whitman...

Norman Rockwell "Spirit of America", Rockwell Museum Stockbridge MA

"America"

BY WALT WHITMAN

Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
Chair’d in the adamant of Time.
                                                     - 1890

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/12/why-walt-whitman-called-the-america-the-greatest-poem/510932/

read:The Fourth of July

Extant "13 Colonies" Flag (pbs.org)

"They used to get around, walkin' around, lookin' at stuff. They used to try to find clues to all the mysteries and mistakes God had made. My friend George said that he was gonna live to be 100 years old. He said - He said that he was going to be the president of the United States. I wanted to see him lead a parade and wave a flag on the Fourth of July. He just wanted greatness. The grown-ups in my town, they were never kids like me and my friends. They had worked in wars and build machines. It was hard for them to find their peace. Don't you know how that feels? I like to go to beautiful places where there's waterfalls and empty fields. Just places that are nice and calm and quiet." - Nasia, from 2000's George Washington by David Gordon Green

The genius of democracies is seen not only in the great number of new words introduced but even more in the new ideas they express. - Alexis de Tocqueville

Shall we look to the skies with closed eyes? (Jamaica)

Redemption Song Statue, Kingston

America
BY CLAUDE MCKAY
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.
Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
Giving me strength erect against her hate,
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.
Yet, as a rebel fronts a king in state,
I stand within her walls with not a shred
Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,
And see her might and granite wonders there,
Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand,
Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.

- from McKay's (1889~1948) Liberator (1921).  He was a Jamaican-American poet.

"The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you.  You just got to find the ones worth suffering for." - Bob Marley

CHILD DUB POET

It rough but we don’t complain (fuss)

Life down in Jamaica (yard) is tough, it’s rough, but we don’t complain (fuss)

Days upon days the children (pickney) don’t eat, there out on the street, some of them are sleeping on the cold concrete.

Life down in Jamaica (yard) is tough, it’s rough, but we don’t complain (fuss)

Naked Body and empty stomach, deep collar bones and enlarged stomachs, depression show on their faces.

My JAH, what a disgrace.

...America...

"American Tune" - Paul Simon

Many’s the time I’ve been mistaken

And many times confused

Yes, and I’ve often felt forsaken

And certainly misused

Oh, but I’m all right, I’m all right

I’m just weary to my bones

Still, you don’t expect to be

Bright and bon vivant

So far away from home, so far away from home

I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered

I don’t have a friend who feels at ease

I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered

Or driven to its knees

Oh, but it’s all right, it’s all right

For lived so well so long

Still, when I think of the road

We’re traveling on

I wonder what went wrong

I can’t help it, I wonder what’s gone wrong

And I dreamed I was dying

And I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly

And looking back down at me

Smiled reassuringly

And I dreamed I was flying

And high above my eyes could clearly see

The Statue of Liberty

Sailing away to sea

And I dreamed I was flying

Oh, we come on the ship they call the Mayflower

We come on the ship that sailed the moon

We come in the age’s most uncertain hour

And sing an American tune

Oh, it’s all right, it’s all right

It’s all right, it’s all right

You can’t be forever blessed

Still, tomorrow’s going to be another working day

And I’m trying to get some rest

That’s all I’m trying to get some rest

...America...the Excerpts of Phillis Wheatley and Jupiter Hammon...04jul14...

Contemplating early African American poets of the Revolutionary Age this Fourth of July

Phillis Wheatley's "On Imagination" (1767~73) Excerpts - Full Text Here

"Thy various works, imperial queen, we see,
How bright their forms! how deck'd with pomp by thee!
Thy wond'rous acts in beauteous order stand,
And all attest how potent is thine hand.

From star to star the mental optics rove,
Measure the skies, and range the realms above.
There in one view we grasp the mighty whole,
Or with new worlds amaze th' unbounded soul.

Though Winter frowns to Fancy's raptur'd eyes
The fields may flourish, and gay scenes arise;
The frozen deeps may break their iron bands,
And bid their waters murmur o'er the sands.

Before thy throne the subject-passions bow,
Of subject-passions sov'reign ruler Thou,
At thy command joy rushes on the heart,
And through the glowing veins the spirits dart."

Jupiter Hammon's "An Address to Ms. Phillis Wheatley" (1778) 
Excerpts - Full Text Here

"O, come you pious youth: adore
The wisdom of thy God.
In bringing thee from distant shore,
To learn His holy word.

While thousands tossed by the sea,
And others settled down,
God's tender mercy set thee free,
From dangers still unknown.

Come you, Phillis, now aspire,
And seek the living God,
So step by step thou mayst go higher,
Till perfect in the word.

The humble soul shall fly to God,
And leave the things of time,
Start forth as 'twere at the first word,
To taste things more divine."

Journey of a Slave 1863 - Library of Congress