She was great and she was free;
The most beautiful lady I ever did see.
Strong as an ox pulling steadily on by,
Graceful as an eagle soaring high in the sky.
She was ever firm and true, steadfast and brave.

I heard her tales from the time of my youth,
Stories beyond number of her glorious deeds:
The land she shared and blessed,
The inventions she imagined and powered,
The wars she fought and won.

Many have fallen for love of her.
Opportunity for all she did secure.
She defended life and all the blessings of liberty,
And from sea to shining sea, a fair land so free.
Her people loved her dearly for they knew:

She promised truth if you sought
And freedom if you fought.
She never promised perfection.
And never, that it would be easy,
But true to her word,
She was the noblest of them all.

Blinded by greed and newfound luxury,
Those who once loved her, discarded liberty.
Sneering at her virtue, the law they did not heed;
Finding fool’s freedom in rejecting every creed.
They stole and twisted her truth, bent and broke her beauty.

With the truth imprisoned in dungeons dark,
Intellectuals changed the key and abused the words,
Singing her a new song of verity obscured.
Praising perversion, they veiled the Cross
Shaming Deus, Lux et Veritas.

Taught to believe in nothing except for what one’s told,
The masses threw their arms in anger and shook their fists in fear.
With hope to build it better, they smashed the thin veneer.
Entranced by their emotions, with folly bursting from their hearts,
They fought with swords of falsehood, thrashing blindly in the dark.

All about us, there seems to be a malignant society
With seeping, wishful fictions that tarnish all they touch.
All that’s free in this land now is the freedom of evil whim
And the patient, wanting monster is morphing by and by.
All that’s left of true and good, they mean to crucify.

I see them to my left and to my right, they read this of the next.
They shout and point till voices hoarse, come to broken necks.
But the red and godless in a high place, just laugh their evil laugh.
Without the truth we all are doomed and forfeit truth we have.
Blinded by our vanity, we chose this wicked path.

And yet, this is our home; we must make it good and true.
Though wounded and abused, her Constitution they wrote for you.
Stoke the fading fire to burn bright with truth once more
Revive the brave old cry that none can contain,
A hymn of freedom ringing in glorious refrain.

The sun is rising our battle and this is how we’ll fight:
Demand your right to life and liberty, despite their evil blight.
They’ll make you fear to live in peace and tell you that they care,
But know that they are liars and know that they will fail.
Strike their contradiction, rise up tall and never bend,
For God is not forgotten and truth triumphs in the end!

So in this solemn hour,
let us make this vow we pray to honor:
With God as my witness and Grace by my side,
Armed in Good, with a sword of Truth,
Day and Night, I will fight
With bright and clear delight,
For my lady, the greatest lady,
America.

Dedicated to Terence W. Smith