Patriotism

         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…