Where Courage Resides

Blind allegiance to a person or cause

no rhyme or reason to back it up

A people devoid of sense or principles

sets the stage for chaos and anarchy

A broken society ripe for the picking

tyranny and dictatorship love it to death

Constricting freedoms for the greater good,

only serving to choke our vital airflow

We shrivel and wither to torpid gray

a visage belonging to dead men walking

We claim no blindness, only rose-tinted lenses;

is that why we can’t see we are slowly dying?

Take off the shades, shed the scaled skin,

look closely at reality and decide to live again

Notice the chains, the tightening noose,

before the chance to act is past all reckoning

Democracy is easily lost, but not so easily found

once slid into dim disarray, hope is all but gone

If a nation desires to return to her roots,

she must search within, where courage resides

Liberty is a privilege, freedom a gift

but is only secured by a unified force

Patriotism is a virtue, love of country admirable

but only when seasoned by humankindness.

Though divided, we are not doomed

the gap is bridgeable by mutually reaching hands

Our latent life force lying fallow as yet,

will spring to life again under a gentle touch

Healing wounds, fighting injustices,

our past not forgotten, yet mercifully forgiven

Take courage, light the torches,

as we open our hearts to be joined again

Hand in hand, we march through the dark

looking ahead to brighter days

Where future generations bask in the sunlight

of our indivisible nation, liberty and justice for all.