America Poem by W.I. Stoneberger

Land of Freedom
Land of Democracy
Big sprawling land of Liberty,
I love you.
I hear you called a liar
and I know that it is so,
for I have heard your stories of opportunity
and still seen your people
begging along the boulevards
starving in the streets
struggling to survive.
I have heard of your patriotism
your pride and power,
and still seen the fear on faces
fumbling from one day to the next
forgetting what it was they believed in
in the first place
what they were searching for
feeling like a cog in the corruption machine
wondering where the ideals of the country went.
Still, I love you
with you faults as big
as the Mississippi is long.

Land of the pioneers
Land of the immigrants
the melting pot called America,
I love you.
I hear the voices of your people
and know what it is they say
for I hear their stories of love of life
of living in a land
where everything is offered
and often out of reach
of their pursuits of happiness,
where democracy is a dream
that the rich man rules
and the poor man pays for with his sweat
his spirit and soul.

Land of mountains
where deer dance
and corporations conspire
to take it all away.
Land of rolling plains
stretching across the ashes
of the American farm
evolving into asphalt highways
parking lots condos and strip malls
rising in the silo's passing shadow.
A country spread out wide
and weird and wonderful
where one man's vote
is still important
even if he is the only one listening.