250 Years...and Counting (poem) by E D Phillips on AuthorsDen

250 Years...and Counting
by E D Phillips → (All Poetry by E D Phillips)
Wednesday, January 28, 2026 Rated "G" by the Author.

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[image: Jeff Smith, fine arts] America the Beautiful by Katherine Bates

250 Years...and Counting It seems like only decades ago That we carved our place in the sands of time And began a journey in search of a profound need. We planted, sowed, and tilled while We struggled to honor that concept As we listened to the perfect words of clarity that defined Who we are and what we believe in Combined with an overpowering presence of musical transcendence: O beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain… Unmatched in all these years Unchanged in purpose or determination Undeterred by the challenges That Fate had in store for us: For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plains… We told our story and fought our battles Despite the blood sweat and tears As we struggled to get it right; From Valley Forge to the Alamo From Gettysburg to Pearl Harbor We buried our dead but not our souls: O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife… But Justice always sets her bar higher When fear and greed try to wrap themselves in the false glory of tyranny By spitting on our Constitution And gunning down our citizens Under the fake shield of presumed immunity: Who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life… Not here not now and not on our watch Too many of our citizens have died not knowing The price of Freedom is eternal vigilance; We may stumble and we may fall But we will honor our dead, our forebears and our duty to all persons of good will: America America God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with Brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
USA-Forever

Reviewed by Ronald Hull

Reviewed on January 30, 2026

The good these days are being investigated for crimes they never committed. Some of them are being arrested from their homes and thrown out of the country. Not because they are good, but because they appear to be different.

It seems only yesterday when I had my 200 year red, white and blue passport and circled the globe to countries like Egypt that was under martial law and at war with Israel. Eagerly welcomed to visit Iran under progressive westernization. Thailand and the Philippines were also under martial law, but everywhere I went, with that US passport, I was taken to the head of the line and given royal treatment.

The sooner we are more open to the world again, the more American we will be again. Are we brave enough to do it? It appears that the people from the land of waving grain in Minnesota aren't afraid to do it in subzero temperatures. Made it spread across the land like wildfire.

Ron

Reviewed by Kalikiano Kalei

Reviewed on January 29, 2026

An admirable paean and testament to our "Great American Experiment", Ed . On the one hand, though, I remain convinced that democracy, although a high-flown ideal, has proven unsuited to the common mentality of the banal masses, especially when they are so easily led down unproductive, even harmful paths by the rising power of Corporate America that jeoparidise themselves and, by extension, all of us. Still, there seems to have been no better alternative to it that has developed over the past 250 years. As Becca stated it, "So far (the flag) still waves" and I join her and all of us 'right-thinkers' who fervently hope it stays there, fluttering bravely in the winds of dire change.

Reviewed by Rebecca McKeehan

Timely and moving.

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

So far it does. Let's hope it stays there.

Rebecca