America, the Beautiful
Posted by Warren Peterson on July 7, 2008
July 4, 2008 marked the 232nd year of this great American experiment. When asked what the newly written Constitution provided, Benjamin Franklin is purported to have said “A republic, if you can keep it.” Keep it we have through wars, social unrest and political crisis. How does one explain it? Perhaps it is said best by Katherine L. Bates’ words to what could be called our national hymn, “America, the Beautiful”.
O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!
O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
‘Til all success be nobleness, and ev’ry gain divine!
O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!
And all God’s children said “Amen.”
