What America Was Meant to Be (E pluribus unum)
I
She’s what America was meant to be:
Rebellious, righteous, noble, and just.
A capitalist. A harbinger of freedom,
An untamed animal, a free spirit.
She’s what America was meant to be:
A work in progress, never satisfied,
Never settling, but content. Finding
The utmost joy in the smallest of things.
She’s what America was meant to be:
Her mother was tyrannical; she had to break away from it.
She signed off her independence; it didn’t take away the pain.
So, when the union that arose descended into hell, war ensued.
But because she’s what America was meant to be,
She didn’t give in to the lies, the manipulations,
The social engineering. She didn’t rebrand her identity
Based on false promises of eternity.
II
Because she’s what America was meant to be,
She raised her children, gave all she had,
Even with less than necessary. She took the stress,
The pain, the cries, and turned it into strength.
She’s what America was meant to be:
In the uncivil war, she stuck to her guns, not only.
She burned the past, kept an unphased spirit,
Rose strong and tall, killed the culprit.
Because she’s what America was meant to be,
She looked back to the founding wisdom, the ideals
Of the republic of her life, the things she always was,
From which she had been kept away.
She’s what America was meant to be:
She saw some future in the past, she still believed,
That good can come after the bad, that saint anger shall come to Pass.
That she, too, can — and deserves — Happiness, Life, and Liberty.
III
Because she’s what America was meant to be,
She found in an unlikely candidate some healing:
Too large a land for its people, comprising the remnants
Of the small island.
She’s what America was meant to be:
She looked up, not down, to herself; never used
Victimhood to tell herself she couldn’t
Though if she’d wanted, she could have.
She’s what America was meant to be:
She chose love, not hate; she picked unity over tension.
Hope, not despair; building, not dismantling.
Empathy, not greed; sharing, not taking.
Because she’s what America was meant to be,
She talks the talks and walks the walks —
Minds her own business. Sets the example. Chooses freedom,
Even when freedom is against her interest. Admits when she’s wrong.
IV
She’s what America was meant to be:
She carries her flag as a symbol of peace,
Wins nobly, fights just wars only.
She shines light over darkness, not darkness over light.
Because she’s what America was meant to be,
She knows her painful past, works not to perpetuate it,
For she truly feels the wound of a thousand lives
Taken away unjustly.
She’s what America was meant to be: Phila,
She finds home in herself and in love, the love
Of wisdom, Sofia, inherited from her mother
And father, men and women of history.
Because she’s what America was meant to be,
She is the Dream people discuss,
From coast to coast and overseas,
The Dream of ambitious and tired immigrants.
V
She’s what America was meant to be:
She stands taller than the Statue of Liberty,
She stands for more than Freedom,
She stands for true Justice.
Because she’s what America was meant to be,
The Appalachian brightens up, for she, somewhere in the vicinity,
Holds the key to the new world, a world promised to us,
Yet never realized fully.
She’s what America was meant to be:
A beacon of light and justice, she does the right thing
Even when the right thing is hard; she never
Complains about it.
Because she’s what America was meant to be,
She is the flag, attractive for many, and to one.
The one who dreamed the Dream, only to realize
That in real America, the dream was fading.
But she’s what America was meant to be,
So she keeps the Dream alive for many, and to one,
The man from the big land born from the small island.
The man who hates America but lives for its ideal.
She’s what America was meant to be:
So she keeps the Dream alive for many, and to one,
The man who hates America, but the man who loves
What America was meant to be — e pluribus unum.
