Hail, Columbia! by Joseph Hopkinson

Hail Columbia, happy land!
Hail, ye heroes, heav’n-born band,
Who fought and bled in freedom’s cause,
Who fought and bled in freedom’s cause,
And when the storm of war was gone
Enjoy’d the peace your valor won.
Let independence be our boast,
Ever mindful what it cost;
Ever grateful for the prize,
Let its altar reach the skies.

Chorus
Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

Immortal patriots, rise once more,
Defend your rights, defend your shore!
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Invade the shrine where sacred lies
Of toil and blood, the well-earned prize,
While off’ring peace, sincere and just,
In Heaven’s we place a manly trust,
That truth and justice will prevail,
And every scheme of bondage fail.

Chorus
Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

Behold the chief who now commands,
Once more to serve his country stands.
The rock on which the storm will break,
The rock on which the storm will break,
But armed in virtue, firm, and true,
His hopes are fixed on Heav’n and you.
When hope was sinking in dismay,
When glooms obscured Columbia’s day,
His steady mind, from changes free,
Resolved on death or liberty.

Chorus
Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

Sound, sound the trump of fame,
Let Washington’s great fame
Ring through the world with loud applause,
Ring through the world with loud applause,
Let ev’ry clime to freedom dear,
Listen with a joyful ear,
With equal skill, with God-like pow’r
He governs in the fearful hour
Of horrid war, or guides with ease
The happier time of honest peace.

Chorus
Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

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instrumental version (2:15) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU1reLFj_CY

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Don’t Tread Or Burn – haiku by Dennis Allen Lange

—

Love freedom?
Love America.
Love its flag.

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photo by Billy Frank Alexander at
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/meMFjkc/America+3

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* The haiku I write are lines of 3-5-3 syllables instead of 5-7-5.

See Haiku article here for explanation, if needed: https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/haiku/

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© Dennis Allen Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2017.
 

 

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Stanzas On Freedom by James Russell Lowell

….Stanzas On Freedom

Men! whose boast it is that ye
Come of fathers brave and free,
If there breathe on earth a slave,
Are ye truly free and brave?
If ye do not feel the chain,
When it works a brother’s pain,
Are ye not base slaves indeed,
Slaves unworthy to be freed? 

Women! who shall one day bear
Sons to breathe New England air,
If ye hear, without a blush,
Deeds to make the roused blood rush
Like red lava through your veins,
For your sisters now in chains –
Answer! Are ye fit to be
Mothers of the brave and free? 

Is true Freedom but to break
Fetters for our own dear sake,
And, with leathern hearts, forget
That we owe mankind a debt?
No! true freedom is to share
All the chains our brothers wear,
And, with heart and hand, to be
Earnest to make others free! 

They are slaves who fear to speak
For the fallen and the weak;
They are slaves who will not choose
Hatred, scoffing, and abuse,
Rather than in silence shrink
From the truth they needs must think;
They are slaves who dare not be
In the right with two or three.

 

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Bannockburn by Robert Burns

*Read “Wha” as “Who”
*Read “wham” as “whom”
*”lour” is “lower”, threaten
*”sae” is “so”

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……….Bannockburn

Scots, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
…..Or to victorie! 

Now’s the day, and now’s the hour;
See the front o’ battle lour;
See approach proud Edward’s power –
…..Chains and slaverie! 

Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha can fill a coward’s grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
…..Let him turn and flee! 

Wha, for Scotland’s King and Law,
Freedom’s sword will strongly draw,
Free-man’s stand, or Free-man fa’.
…..Let him follow me! 

By Oppression’s woes and pains!
By your sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
…..But they shall be free! 

Lay the proud Usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty’s in every blow! –
…..Let us do or die!

 

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Memorial Day by Dennis Lange

Arlington National Cemetery (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Memorial Day

On this day and on all others,
   With a sense of legacy,
Know your freedom’s bought, our brothers –
   Keep in mind our memory. 

Teach your children what we’ve suffered;
   Tell your tots the price we paid;
Let them know that lives were offered
   So they learn how freedom’s weighed. 

Pass it to the next begetting,
   Like an heirloom handed down,
So there’s no one that’s forgetting;
   Keep it green, not dried and brown. 

Let them know we died in trenches;
   Tell them graves are ‘neath the sea;
E’en in the air, we felt death’s pinches;
   Our last words – pained poetry. 

In the flag, our blood stains ripple,
   Highest cost for liberty.
Drench the youth or daily stipple
   With the paint of history. 

Tell your children of our treasure:
   Wives and babies left behind –
Sacrifice that’s without measure;
   Depth of heartache undefined. 

Dead in graves aren’t all that’s buried
   Widows, orphans shattered, too;
Joy and peace to Hades ferried
   Left? A lifetime full of rue. 

That we did for precious freedom,
   Knowing cost before we went.
Never treat us like a wee crumb,
   Like a worthless copper cent. 

Ring the bell throughout the ages;
   Tell our tale, how freedom’s bought.
Let our stories fill the pages;
   We ask no more than what we ought.

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© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2013.

 

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I Fly The Flag by Dennis Lange

—
I fly the flag; no one decreed,
Or with a saber made me bleed
To walk the plank of this small deed.
It is my head and heart I heed
To fly the red, the white, the blue,
The stars and stripes for what is true.
………………Freedom

I fly the flag; it’s slightly furled,
By gentle breezes barely curled,
And when I sleep like children sleep,
There are no fears as I dream deep
That in the night some foreign foe,
With haughty hands will bring it low.
……………….Peace

I fly the flag for those who died,
And those at home who merely cried.
With their hands, too, they raised this flag,
And raised with it, so they ne’er sag,
Our hopes and dreams, like rising tides,
While they surrendered homes and brides.
……………….Memorial

I fly the flag and bosoms swell,
Of those who know our hist’ry well.
I think of heroes on the wall,
Down through the ages gave their all;
And since they trusted God to give,
It is in this great land we live.
……………….Pride

…………..I fly the flag.

       

© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2011. 

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