Hello all! I have been neglecting my poetry in favor of song writing recently and, while this means i haven't produced any poetry, I have been writing lyrics. I just moved to Richmond VA and as a consequence i have neither much means (or even a job) with which to make a recording (rent a recording studio and/or buy recording equipment) of the songs I have written, but I will get on it as soon as I have the means.
This song is about the deep spiritual nature that undergirds American patriotism. Unlike most other countries -some bound together by bonds of race and blood, others existing as the careless footprints of deceased empires- American patriotism stems from a call to action by one's own conscience. What makes one's blood American is not its connection or faith towards its dead past -to one's ethnic heritage and family roots for instance-, but rather the fact that it is real, living, blood whose pulse cries out for freedom. This is why people can come here from all four corners of the globe and become Americans regardless of color or creed.
Finally, I feel compelled to point out that, though many of my fellow countrymen were lucky enough to be born in this land of freedom, many are not truly American. They do not want and, in fact, work to oppose freedom. Most unknowingly, but some with conscious intent. This latter group can be found in its greatest concentration high up in the USA government and its corresponding crony-capitalist mega-corporations.
Do not misunderstand me. I am not calling for violence against anyone (in the final verse of this song, the line "my blood falls on this soil", emphasizes individual self-sacrifice and not a commitment to violence against others). I am merely calling attention to the precarious nature of our union as well as the fact that it is in our day to day lives that we must change the world rather than looking to government to make these changes for us.
The Calling
My blood calls to the soil
Of a land I long to see
Where all my kindred spirits
Would dance in harmony
My brother’s of the forest
My sister’s of the sea
My father is of freedom made
And mother: love of humanity
And we fade
We’ll come again
Does your blood call to this soil
Of this land you long to see
Where all our kindred spirits
Once lived in prosperity
This land is of the forest
This land is of the sea
This land was once of freedom made
Now lives in slavery
And we fade
We’ll come again
My blood falls on this soil
In hopes of liberty
That all my kindred spirits
Would have a place to be
I am of the forest
I am of the sea
Faith in freedom I’ll proclaim
That all might love like me
And we fade
We’ll rise again…
