FWD: From another List. >A Toast for Today >"Toast to the Flag" >by John Jay Daly > >Here's to the red of it - >There's not a thread of it, >No, nor a shred of it >In all the spread of it > >From foot to head, >But heroes bled for it, >Faced steel and lead for it, >Precious blood shed for it, >Bathing it red! > >Here's to the white of it- >Thrilled by the sight of it, >Who knows the right of it >But feels the might of it >Through day and night? >Womanhood's care for it >Made manhood dare for it, >Purity's prayer for it >Keeps it so white! > >Here's to the blue of it - >Beauteous view of it, >Heavenly hue of it, >Star-spangled dew of it >Constant and true; >Diadems gleam for it, >States stand supreme for it, >Liberty's beam for it >Brightens the blue!! > >Here's to the whole of it - >Stars, stripes and pole of it, >Body and soul of it, >O, and the roll of it, >Sun shining through; >Hearts in accord for it, >Swear by the sword for it, >Thanking the Lord for it, >Red, White and Blue. > > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >I Am the United States I was born on July 4, 1776, and the Declaration of >Independence is my birth certificate. The bloodlines of the world run in my >veins, because I offered freedom to the oppressed. I am the United States >of America! > >I am 250 million living souls and the ghosts of millions who have lived and >fought and died for me. > >I am Nathan Hale and Paul Revere. At Lexington I fired the shot heard >around the world. I am Washington, Jefferson and Patrick Henry. I am John >Paul Jones, the Green Mountain Boys and Davy Crockett. I am Lee, Grant, and >Abe Lincoln. > >I remember the Alamo, the Maine and Pearl Harbor. When freedom called, I >answered and stayed until it was over, over there. I left my heroic dead on >the bleak slopes of Korea and Vietnam - in Flanders field, the rock of >Corregidor and the desert sands of Kuwait. > >I am the Brooklyn Bridge, the wheat fields of Kansas, the granite hills of >Vermont. I am the coal mines of the Virginias and Pennsylvania, the fertile >lands of the west, the Golden Gate and the Grand Canyon. I am Independence >Hall, the Monitor, the Merrimac and the Challlenger. > >Oh, yes - I am big. I sprawl from the Atlantic to the Pacific - 3 million >square miles of land throbbing with industry. I am more than 2 million >farms. I am forest, field, mountain and desert. I am quiet villages and >cities that never sleep. You can look at me and see Ben Franklin walking >down the streets of Philadelphia with his bread load under his arm. You can >see Betsy Ross with her needle. You can see the lights of Christmas and >hear the strains of "Auld Lang Syne" as the calendar turns. > >I am Babe Ruth and the World Series, 170,000 schools and colleges and more >than 300,000 churches where my people worship as they choose. I am a ballot >dropped into a box, the roar of a crowd in a stadium, the voice of a choir >in a cathedral. I am an editorial in a newspaper and a letter to Congress. >I am John Glenn and Neil Armstrong and their fellow astronauts who whirl >through the spaces above my head. I am Eli Whitney and Stephen Foster, Tom >Edison, Albert Einstein and Billy Graham. > >Yes, I am the nation and these are the things that I am. I was conceived in >freedom and God willing, in freedom I shall spend the rest of my days. > >May I always possess the integrity, the courage and the strength to keep >myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of freedom and a beacon of hope for >all the wold. > >-Author Unknown > > > > > > >^,,^< >^,,^<>^,,^<>^,,^< > >TAPS >(1st verse only) > >Day is done, >Gone the sun, > From the lakes, > From the hills > From the sky >All is well, >Safely rest, >God is nigh. > > >^,,^< >^,,^<>^,,^<>^,,^<