Your Turn is at Hand: A Poem for Our Time

It started in a sweltering Hall,
Feather to paper and paper to all,
Declaring this place a new sovereign land,
And pushing away a king's ruling hand.

"What have you given us?" the question was raised.
"A republic if you can keep it" throughout all of your days.
So that's it, our country is real and we've won?
Sure, once everything is settled with guns.

Then settled it was, colonies no more.
The United States began on a vast eastern shore.
From feather and paper another statement was made,
By Cornwallis at Yorktown who ne'er again would invade.

Then we fought with ourselves, not a hundred years later,
Death the order not writing on paper.
At Gettysburg they fell, slaughtered and silent.
Dear God how could we be so callous and violent?

At Antietam the casualties were hard to accept.
Over 3,100 felled to their deaths.
The casualties totaled over twenty-three grand,
Brother against brother; hand against hand.

The Union preserved, we'd start to rebuild,
The slaves were now free, though death was the bill.
Freedom is like that, it comes with a cost.
Generations have preserved it at great expense and loss.

From the First World War, to the Second and Korea,
We've fought to preserve this whole freedom idea.
From the jungles of Nam to the desert Middle East,
Not one soldier has uttered, "Hey, what about me?"

Selfless service is what makes us great.
It's why we still have these fifty United States.
Today our flag asks us to answer her call.
From within or without, we must NEVER let her fall.

"Protect me from all enemies, both foreign and domestic,
I know I can count on you when things are most hectic.
I've stood here for centuries, so proud of this land,
Protected by heroes, now your turn's at hand."

-- Jason Fornwalt, Treehouse of Liberty Times editor/staff writer