What is America by Gary Jacobson © October 2005 America, What makes this land so special So beauteous, one nation under God shining bright Borne in annals of right sacredly sacrificial For all the world to see that cherish divine light. Crowning good with brotherhood bold America shines majestic through liberating strife Beautiful for the eye to behold America! America! Giving sweet breath of life... Our land is the home of men free and brave Men grasping for freedom’s beneficial Precepts of fidelity, the destiny of worlds to save Promoting radical integrity in democracy judicial. American eyes once lived in innocence Borne from purple mountain’s majestic delight Guided by God’s good sense Ordained to defend the right. God, preserve this nation valiantly fought for In order to preserve God-given principles Boundless liberty by patriotism bore Defended by the blood of heroes. Our forefather’s, In order to establish domestic tranquility Forged a noble Constitution to form more perfect union Honoring freedom’s light through steadfast veracity To share with all the world our holy communion. Patriots held these sacred truths to be self-evident Allegiance with reliable verity Honor bearing American resolve as hard as granite To secure the blessings of past and future posterity. Worth any fight is freedom’s noble concept True freedom does eternally true goodness cite Sounding, bounding, from the pages of history leapt God defend our golden birthright. That bastion of truth seen from afar upon a hill Whistling like wind over waving fields of golden grain A beacon of right others may see, still This valorous cause inalienable, aspire to attain. Bravery is Americas motto official Defended with glorious might on alters of right With vision transcending the commercial First conquering in ourselves detestable blight. Rebuild withered hopes and ambitions of society Keep burning strong America’s magnificent flame Ever earnest, every action in abiding sincerity Réclame truth and right’s bastions in richest acclaim. Walk softly in national goodwill With duty sworn to hold rights of others ambrosial From the dawn of time till The big stick is shown in might to foes adversarial. America nobly protects morality’s liberty in law Welcomes the downtrodden to teeming shores multiracial Repairs in truth and justice every flaw Whether huddling masses, or noble band of brothers celestial. Truth is the American way enduring Nurtured in strength knowing right from wrong Fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, their glory never-ending Echos from all the trees sweet freedom’s song. America gives love like unto justice, metered in blindness From our fruited plane, across shimmering prairie and lake From sea to shining sea magnificence Let mortal tongues trumpet of truth, life and liberty awake. Teaching Our Young by Gary Jacobson © September 2005  We were not taught to kill Neither sow nor reap the whirlwind’s gust For such anger does not God’s purpose fill To simply take another's life in demonic lust Though bristling rough raucous the thrill See impassioned men die before your blade in bloody dust Killing has to be learned like a skill Following corporate greed by law they must Nourish with anguished blood forsaken ravine or hill Lay down mortal lives in the carnal harvest. Killing goes against all moral teaching Reborn time and again in horrid night sweats Boring eternally deep into our souls far reaching Repaying again and again our spiritual debts With mighty fists of suppression now groveling Anger seared by adrenaline, war’s memory begets Makes thousands of mothers grieve... We need be reeducated from what parents carefully taught To march to war so gung-ho naive To embrace a world’s arch-fiend our weary souls bought. Boys still wet behind the ears every generation leave Principles by church and society religiously wrought Sent to fight for what men tell them to believe Going forth bravely into the mouth of guns Despoiling the plans of grand creation Youth’s principles too oft outruns Advancing this sovereign nation Marching valiantly to glory win for posterity Caught up in the devilish action To install on the world American democracy! 
War’s lessons by Gary Jacobson © September 2005 O that I might decipher war’s fire and brimstone lessons Might once more smell life’s bounteous blossoms Once more here in the world ... beyond the dawn Where have all the flowers gone? I see men staring, but they don’t have a clue What in the world has happened to me, to you Standing silent as statues draped in bright crimson O where, O where is war’s great lesson? Have we learned life’s lessons, learned them at all Or are we but sounding belligerent battle’s thrall Young princes who answer the call, be it wrong or right Smacking bloodthirsty lips ready for the next gory fight? War birth’s both reason and illogical obsession Peace in benevolence, pathological hatred’s oppression. Intemperate youth is too ready to ride carnivorous whirlwinds Too impatient to go wherever war’s bestial ogre sends. From virile youth, anxious to ride life’s roller-coaster Toasting that recruitment arm-twister All hale the war supporter Who lured a nation’s princes to some jungle backwater. O, that I would not have to again fight them But I must, in meaningless again and again regimen... Taught at the heels of the master warrior, Reveling uproarious in the gladiatorial fight, this preacher. War brings battalions of students, brimstone senses to learn Sparkling with inflamed passions in battle to earn As war’s cantankerous contagions around them churn Legions beset by optimism and depression on every turn. War makes some atheists into God loving humanists While making some God loving men atheists Sent back from the sinful world apologists Jumping at every sound, these war weary alarmists. Some forever in their hearts correct lessons of war learn They hear God’s “Peace on Earth,” for which they yearn While others can only say, “Burn baby, burn.” Bring ‘em on, it’s their turn to learn. Some are controlled by the roll of the dice In war caused by men’s callous greed and avarice. Some repeat war’s same old mistakes with reticence Living thirty-five years, one-at-a-time, in sublime indifference. War does the carnal in man inspire Brings back to life memory of Nam’s painful funeral pyre But warriors emerge through the mouth of holy fire Leap through heat and noxious flames burning dire. Forevermore in old warriors the war’s conflagration influences Having learned by the sword cultural differences. Not with joined wisdom of thirty-five years deference Seek the ephemeral peace, an abiding preference. Old warriors have seen war’s rewards first hand Know well qualities of peace, compassion, love, first hand Helping other brothers struggle with angers Living by the kindness of strangers. Old warriors help others get through hellish PTSD Help future generations to see... Learn from veterans surviving the great holocaust called war What war’s really for, at the core. O, observe those who’ve ridden this bestial carnivore Felt prolonged hatred on their soul’s bore Felt war’s might in bruised body and spirit sore Now vowing not to let war happen, anymore. We send our sons across the heartbreak sea Quite sane, well educated, vibrantly alive We hand them a gun ... tell them killers they now be And hope they can hell survive. Day by day they struggle to conquer lingering depression War’s repression of values, our nation’s constant obsession. Learn to “Walk softly but carry the big stick,” Fighting only a last resort, should in hearts turn war’s shtick.  If you approve of this site, please show your approval by clicking above graphic... which will enter your vote for "Vietnam Picture Tour," as a top military site! Vietnam Picture tour," from lens and poets pen of a combat infantryman
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