Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Beyond the Sign


Wherefore art thou O Liberty?
Where among the shining sea
Of coast-lands and mountainous range,
Of Prairies and of plains? What change
Has occurred to make thee invert?
Or has illusion merely hurt
The name of reality
By changing what we now do see
As that which constitutes our liberty?
Wherefore art thou O land of the free?

Free you may be to vote your side,
With anger, and hatred, and foolish pride.
Liberation you will proclaim!
Then sides collide in a most profane
War of pestilence and plague,
A great smattering, like some rotten egg.
All in the name of love you will act,
For brother and sister, your pact
Will help every man! O foolish pride...
Why do you seek to take me for a ride?

Where were you when I was in prayer?
A smile on my face was there then...
Do you proclaim yourself a hate slayer?
O Liberty of men and women?
Do you understand yourself at all?
You who are proclaimed by many?
Or do you rise and fall
As the desire's of men for honey?
When honey is all gone then bitterness come...
My liberty will be nothing but conundrum.

Do I protest a particular sight
Among the sea of people that I see?
Not at all, though I fall from this height
In order that I may allow them to be.
Yet if they should come to me bearing gifts,
I'll deny them, for an angel sifts
For wheat like a miner sifts for gold;
I do not want their gifts, I will make bold
With what I have remaining at my side...
My faith is my liberty, my pride.

Wherefore art thou O fair Liberty?
You are no more as you once were.
For even from sea to shining sea
Displaces the water's that were once sure.
So I'll not fuss at the sight of change,
Even if change isn't change at all.
I'll still walk the heights and the range
Of American soil in the fall.
And if you should see me, I'll wish thee well...
My friend, and twice my friend is my foe!
I'll invite thee to speak to me, to tell
What sort of Liberty is in line with your toe.
And if you should strike me, well, very well!
I'm nothing you see, I did everything sell
When I went into service for my Lord and King...
Withholding nothing, not even my ring.

O Liberty, I thank you.
For you are what makes me true.
I see your beauty and I align
As best I can to your sign.
I do not cling to thee though,
Since you are not the end.
But rather I brace my bow...
To go around you my friend.
I end my journey at God's side,
That is my hope, my foolish pride?
But whether foolish or not one must admit...
Everyone follows the name of Liberty
They do not allow themselves to sit.
And whatever Liberty guides this sea
Is one that will eventually be
Gone, gone, no more, we'll be free...
Since change is the sign of eternity.

                 Beyond the Sign, (c) Luke Bennette, November 2012

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