I was looking for some patriotic poetry to share from Joel H. Johnson's archives of poems and music. I found what I was looking for, but instead of getting a taste of patriotic sentiments I was hoping for, these poems convey his bitter feelings of injustice that he clearly was experiencing from the US government at the time. I got these two poems from Joel H's handwritten journal:
On attending the celebration of the 4th of July and hearing much about Liberty when there is none, Crescent City [1857]
Oh! Could our Fathers speak again
They'd cry "though we for freedom bled
Its shadows now our sons retain
While all its substance long has fled
Behold the righteous many years
By mobs and rulers slain for naught
While wandering long in blood and tears
And now again their lives are sought
Where is the Liberty? Oh! Where
For which we boldly fought and bled
Before high heaven we now declare
That from the earth it long has fled"
Uncle Sam [12 Feb 1858]
Ah! Since our Fathers all are gone
Who Founded this great Nation
The power of equal rights has flown
With just administration
While the majority believes
In mobs and freely use them
Like him who for a dove receives
A viper in his bosom
Great post, Seanny! "Our ancestors are dead but the blog is not"- haha good one, glad you resurrected it! Really touching sentiments on freedom- the constant quest for freedom that has happened throughout history and continues today. What a soul, Grandpa Joel.
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