To America on July 4
From Romantic Revolution Books, tonight... From my second book of poetry, "How Glad I Am For Man, Tonight," here is poem for today: To America on July 4 May you awake as your last hour Ticks away a world that history Will not recall, except to yearn. May you find, in the memory That here the rights of man were born, The will to lift, at last, the light Of reason–ever sentinel Against the blind, despotic night. And may you cry, as shadows come Onrushing, how here mankind saw The kneeling rise–their sacrament Nature alone and nature's law-- And seize, upon these shores, the prize That man shall live by right, not leave Of priest or king or mob of men In guises power lust may weave. May you call Enlightenment’s sons From banishment and they again Proclaim rebirth of mankind’s last, Best hope. May freedom ring out, then, Against sly tyranny that lusts To forge our chains, those chains be hurled To damnation everlasting From the bitter shores of the world. May no year come but skies this night Explode with freedom’s grand old light. http://www.amazon.com/How-Glad-Man-Tonig...
"May you find, in the memory That here the rights of man were born,"
As you know, that's quite definitely not what the Declaration of Independence says about where human rights come from.
Have a grand 4th!