Sparks igniting from the fire,
Color shooting into the sky,
Bursting brightly high and higher,
Then disappearing by and by.
Celebrating peace and happiness,
Brought to us from long ago,
Men who braved and did their best,
Whose lives were lost to win the war.
Years and years from then called now,
Winning still the peace won then,
With our best years still to go,
America must be till the end!
Please keep in mind I was 11 years old and, although I was very patriotic, I was extremely naive and inexperienced about the world. I did, believe it or not, watch the news every night and try to keep up on current events.
ReplyDeleteI think this is one of my worst poems, but my dad liked it for the line "winning still the peace won then." He told me that every generation had to earn their rights all over again. I didn't know what he meant, then, but I sure do now.
I keep it for nostalgia, mainly because of dad, but also because - as I told Eleanor - you have to learn from the mistakes of your past.
I think that a lot of people never outgrow the naivete. And a lot of those who do, leave behind their patriotism along the way. I'm very glad that you took the path you did.
ReplyDeleteIt's always fun to go back and read some of our older work. Almost as though it was written by someone else!
ReplyDeleteNow days, it seems to make more sense to me than it did way back then! Maybe I'm just a tad wiser!
It's funny you posted this today because last night I read some Shel Silverstein poems (from Where the Sidewalk Ends, 1974) to my family and one of them was this:
ReplyDeleteTHE FOURTH
Oh
CRASH!
my
BASH!
it's
BANG!
the
ZANG!
Fourth
WHOOSH!
of
BAROOM!
July
WHEW!