I Am An American

When I was in high school, I memorized this poem and it is one of those things that stays in my mind even to this day and still gives me goosebumps...

I Am An American
by Elias Lieberman

I am an American.
My father was a son of the Revolution.
My mother was a colonial dame.
One of my ancestors pitched tea overboard in Boston Harbor.
Another stood his ground with Warren;
Another hungered with Washington at Valley Forge.
My forefathers were America in the making.

They spoke in her council halls!
They died on her battlefields.
They commanded her ships!
They cleared the forests.

Dawns reddened and paled.
Staunch hearts of mine beat fast
At each new star in the nation's flag.
Keen eyes of mine forsaw her greater glory:
The sweep of her seas,
The plenty of her plains,
The man-hives in her billion-wired cities.
Every drop of blood in me holds a heritage of patriotism!
I am proud of my past.
I am an American!

I am an American!
My father was an atom of dust,
My mother, a straw in the wind
To his Serene Majesty.
One of my ancestors died in the mines of Siberia;
Another was crippled for life by twenty blows of the knot;
Another was killed, defending his home during the massacre.
The history of my ancestors is a trail of blood
To the palace-gate of the Great White Czar.

But, then the dream came---
The dream of America.
In the light of the Liberty torch,
The atom of dust became a man
And the straw in the wind became a woman
For the first time.

See, said my father, pointing to the flag that fluttered near,
"That flag of stars and stripes is yours;
It is the emblem of the promised land.
It means, my son, the hope of humanity.
Live for it---die for it!"

Under the open sky of my new country,
I swore to do so,
And every drop of blood in me
Will keep that vow.
I am proud of my future.
I am an American!

Never Forget,