America the Beautiful


I love our National Anthem.  It is strong.  The words have force and it can be played with soft passages followed by magnificent crescendos.  It fits this country.  But, of course, it is well nigh impossible to sing.  [Not that I can sing anything.  I may have many good qualities but anything approaching, “the arts” falls well out of my bailiwick.]   But whether I sing it or just lip sync, The Star Spangled Banner is a great anthem.

However, it is not my favorite patriotic song.  That ranking goes to America the Beautiful, written by Katherine Lee Bates in 1893.

America the Beautiful

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

Most every American knows that first verse.  They also know that Bates wrote the original poem (there have been three different versions—I’m using the last one) while visiting Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs.  The poem was first published on July 4th, 1895 and put to music later.  We are going to hear this hymn to the best in America today, we always do; but we seldom hear the second verse, which is the best of the bunch.

O beautiful for pilgrim feet

Whose stern impassioned stress

A thoroughfare of freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

I love this verse because it points us to the future.  It speaks to America as the world’s longest held promise for continuous improvement.  This is a country that has no problem looking for its short-comings.  We recognize that only the divine is perfect and the rest of us need to try harder.  The genius of our founding fathers was that they made a document which could respond to change.  The last two lines are my personal mantra for life—mine, the countries, mankinds:

            “Confirm they soul in self-control/Thy liberty in law!” 

            The third verse is just as rarely performed, and just as lovely and meaningful as the second. 

O beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife.

Who more than self their country loved

And mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine

Till all success be nobleness

And every gain divine!

While the second verse points us to the future, this one looks at the past—to our patriots who have amazed us all with their altruism and willingness to sacrifice life, time and treasure for the American dream.  I love the way Bates equates all of the best qualities of our people with gold—our gold—the special American wealth that refines itself to nobleness.  This is probably her most thoughtful analogy.

The last verse is frequently paired with the first, truncating a poem that is designed to look at America as it is, was and shall be…world without end, Amen.  

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

So here it is—a tribute to the finest country in the world.  I do believe that God loves this land because we are the only country on the face of the earth dedicated to the elevation of mankind to the highest levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy.  It is when we do this that we make it easier for man to find God.

America, I promise, I will keep the faith.  Now, let’s sing.

 

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