Tag Archives: America

I feel I have to say something before I go mad

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I feel I have to say something;

I feel I have to do something too,

before I go mad.

I refuse to go gentle on this subject;

our humanity is at stake.

We do not have to go far

to help avoid a sad mistake.

We must unite simply as human beings,

not politically,

not religiously ,

just humanly.

Blood is red in every vein;

oxygen breathes in every lung;

hope should live in every heart.

No need to keep tearing each other apart.

One million plus souls

“left before the fog rose.”

Don’t let the brume and daze take over;

we must each help

to put our house back in order.

Let us not continue to walk in a trance;

Let us wake up again to true freedom and dance.

It may seem perplexing, obscure and confusing at times,

But truth will never baffle the soul.

I feel I must say something

I feel I must do something too,

Before I succumb to hopelessness and doom.

Emily said, “Forever is composed of nows. and

that Truth is so rare, it is delightful to tell it.”

Hold dear to the truth; say something; do something,

This is my poem to the world;

Listen carefully to “hear America sing again.”

Do not allow our democracy die!

The House We Live In – My apologies to Frank Sinatra

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I have been wrestling with how to celebrate July 4th (243rd Birthday of America) with a poem. I recently heard Amanda Gorman, the National Youth Poet Laureate recite her Independence Day poem: Believer’s Hymn of the Republic on CBS. She will perform it again tonight  accompanied by the Boston’s Pops Symphony playing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”. She became my inspiration.

I also remembered a song by Frank Sinatra my father loved and would play all the time called “The House I Live In”. I became a little sad and thought about what my dad would say about what is happening in our country these days.The country he loved so much. Both songs helped me compose my poem.

 

The House We Live In  by Melba Christie

 

 

Sometimes I wonder

If I have lost my way

Sometimes I do not know

what is the right thing to say

about the house we live in.

Is it just a plot of earth?

A main street without a name,

I so want to be so proud;

But sometimes I feel a little shame,

because children now fear

the playgrounds, some the faces that they see

the violence and the fights

Are not we all a part of the we.

What happened to the proud eagle’s flight?

Respect for each other’s views?

The howdy and the handshake are so rare and few

and the right to speak my heart out

what happened to all that too?

The house we used to live in

was roomy and very warm

we knew how to huddle together

with the menace of a storm.

The house we lived in was always great to me.

Not just a slogan or even a flag,

It was a very meaningful word – Democracy!

We live in a house

that needs a little repair.

A real truth, a love of liberty for all

the promise that we knew

“A House divided cannot stand”

I know that

so do you

it is about knowing

out of many we are one.

Let us continue to build

on the foundation that they

built 243 years ago.

A beautiful plot of earth

From sea to shining sea

all races, all religions

all genders

We all want to be free.

So let us join all our

great voices

let us get ready to sing

America the beautiful

Let freedom ring!

The answer to the question,

What is America to me?

The people, We The People!

We The People!

All races, all religions,

All the faces that I see

This

Is 

America to me!

Happy 4th of July!

And God Bless Us All!

And God Bless America!

 

 

 

 

Here are the poets I love

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Here are the poets whose poems were mentioned in my poem:

“The poet’s work defined by other poet’s works”

Maya Angelou 

Elizabeth Bishop

Emily Dickinson

Robert Frost

Langston Hughes

Pablo Neruda

Edgar Allan Poe

William Shakepeare

Walt Whitman

 

****Match the poet to the title of the poem. 

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