I am an American.
My father belongs to the Sons of theRevolution;
My mother, to the Colonial Dames.
One of my ancestors pitched tea overboard inBoston Harbor;
Another stood his ground with Warren;
Another hungered with Washington atValley Forge.
My forefathers were America in the making:
They spoke in her council halls;
They died on her battlefields;
They commanded her ships;
They cleared her forests.
Dawns reddened and paled.
Stanch hearts of mine beat fast at each newstar
In the nation's flag.
Keen eyes of mine foresaw her greater glory:
The sweep of her seas,
The plenty of her plains,
The man-hives in her billion-wired cities.
Every drop of blood in me holds a heritageof patriotism.
I am proud of my past.
I am an American.
I am an American.
My father was an atom of dust,
My mother a straw in the wind,
To his serene majesty.
One of my ancestors died in the mines ofSiberia;
Another was crippled for life by twentyblows of the knout;
Another was killed defending his homeduring the massacres.
The history of my ancestors is a trail ofblood
To the palace gate of the Great White Czar.
But then the dream came
The dream of America.
In the light of the Liberty torch
The atom of dust became a man
And the straw in the wind became a woman
For the first time.
"See," said my father, pointing to the flagthat fluttered near,
"That flag of stars and stripes is yours;
It is the emblem of the promised land,
It means, my son, the hope of humanity.
Live for it—die for it!"
Under the open sky of my new country Iswore to do so;
And every drop of blood in me will keep thatvow.
I am proud of my future.
I am an American. |
