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July 2, 2007
in search of what I meant to be my home
in honour of Independence Day, i give you two poems.
the first is written by the African-American Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. it's patriotic, to be sure -- but not in the way one might expect. he recognises that the notion that "opportunity is real, and life is free / equality is in the air we breathe" is an absolutely revolutionary, staggeringly awesome concept -- that dream, lived out, may bring with it great freedom, but also great responsibility. i'm still searching for "what I meant to be my home" -- for many reasons my relationship with this country of my citizenship has always been uneasy and undefined -- but the America of this poem gives me a profound map for that journey.
the second is familiar -- many people actually would prefer it as the national anthem -- Katharine Lee Bates' "America The Beautiful." however, due to the many times you've sung "fruited plain" and felt really hungry, you may have never noticed the impassioned prayer contained within it. if only the leaders of our country, regardless of political affiliation, would "confirm [their] souls in self-control." if only "selfish gain [would] no longer stain the banner of the free" both here in the USA and in other countries....
Let America Be America Again
by Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home-
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay-
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
The land that never has been yet-
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath-
America will be!
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain-
All, all the stretch of these great green states-
And make America again!
***********
America The Beautiful
by Katharine Lee Bates
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
***********
may God shed His grace on us all on this Independence Day.
p.s. yay for fireworks!
Posted by hadashi at July 2, 2007 10:17 PM
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