AMERICA

A Hymn

by  J. B. Drori

America.  America.

Glory.  Glory.

Higher than your mountains,

Greater than your oceans,

Is your innate nobility-

Your birthright,

Not taken or bestowed.

 

Masterful is your claim

Where every citizen is

His or her own sovereign.

A nation of kings dedicated

To rule for the common good.

 

Eternal be this truth for you

\                                              But not for all people everywhere?

Thus, despite the burden of your blemishes,

Or perhaps because of them,

You heeded the cry of your brothers and sisters

 

Reverberating around the globe.

And dispatched the flower of your youth

To deliver the people from their tyrants.

You opened your treasury to rebuild

Their homelands, burying your heroes in foreign soil.

Should you inquire, “Has any nation ever

Expressed gratitude for your offering of  liberty?

Do they commemorate

The day of their emancipation?

Do they remember?”

Ask the Jews.

They know.

Care to learn if any of the nations of the world

Ever thanked the Children of Israel for their

Gift of Ethical Monotheism?

Ask and you will hear a resounding silence,

A death knell of marching ghosts.

 

But mark this on marble pillars of your public halls.

A day will come – because of you – America,

When the nations of the world will see the light

And claim their birthright of liberty

For all of mankind everywhere.

 

America.   America.

Blessed are you among the nations.

Halleluyah.  Halleluyah.

Selah.

END

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