My God and My Country

Okay, so there is really no reason for me to post this, other than the fact that I am feeling especially patriotic lately. I'm not really sure why, I guess it is just because I've been reading about the elections, and I have been quite disconcerted with all of the phooey that we're being fed. And this is on a daily basis. Why can't we just follow the laws of God, I wonder, and live with the moral ideals and values that this country was intended to stand for? Ah, but it is so hard when so many people are fighting for such a number of varied things. Anyway, I wrote this poem while taking a history class at BYU. It is written in epic style, like the Illiad or the Odyssey, so it may be a little different than what you're used to. I'm proud of it though. It makes me have good feelings about my country and how it was really all meant to be....

This is a tale of a freedom begotten of an ardent yearning for and devotion to

The love of God in a reign of tyranny,

Both in that of politics and religion

Across the world; people massacred for their vehement ideals,

Religious powers eyeing one another with seething suspicion:

Popes excommunicating their rivals, attempting to eclipse the arduous

Religious warfare that was running rampant. God on His throne sat high

Atop the acropolis of the Celestial world, regarding His most beloved creations

With decisiveness, His Eldest Son at His right hand,

Who held the scepter of power, in preparation to carry out His Father’s glorious plan.

The time has commenced, said He to the Son; they sat in reverence

To await the restitution of all truths to men in the one land which was chosen

Before the god of time began ruling over the children of earth.

In the beginning, truths were spread and buried deep

Within the soil of this hallowed land, because it was so loved by God;

Mysteries, these, which lay in wait of the righteous who would toil with fervor

To bring them to the surface. The Son’s face shone with resplendent joy;

He began whispering directions to those faithful ones,

In whose humble hearts a candle of vigor and unsullied hope

Burned, piercing the seemingly stanch darkness.

Both Father and Son took compassion upon those Puritans,

Forced to pay homage to a mortal monarch who sits upon a throne

Of theological icons, proclaiming himself god,

Driven by power and conquest, in defiance of Heaven:

The head of a corrupted tree of vile fruits.

Blooming in the midst of this chaos, the faithful Puritans felt the Truth

Segregate them from the abounding heresy, shedding Christ’s pure light on them.

O, that Mighty God of mercy! He prepared a way

For them to be led to that Eden afore blessed ever to be free;

Outlined a most perfect departure and voyage.

They adhered to the beckon of their God, those faithful ones,

Whose ragged pockets held near-empty purses.

The conservative and small ship called the Mayflower

Set sail on waters of pacific placidness toward the west,

Alas, the Devil in his fury at the miracle being set in motion,

Thrashed about upon the sea violently; terrible winds and waves arose.

The children of this pilgrimage cried out to God:

Why hast Thou forsaken us;

The fragile boat groaned and trembled,

Whilst torrents of waves heaved themselves upon it in madness.

The Father, overlooking His precious children aboard the craft,

Stayed His hand from immediate alleviation

For their distress; That Ever-Wise God! He wished to have them grow in strength

To confront the vast array of unyielding trials He knew they must surely face,

They, and their children, in setting the stones of the nation they would build.

The raging waters surged brutally against the poor boat,

Crashing a beam onto the ship’s deck--grabbing hold of one of the men,

Dragging the poor soul into the uncontrolled waves;

When in sudden speed, God had mercy upon them,

Calming the sea; the people of the Mayflower were again filled

With determination to press forward towards their destiny,

Abandoning all thoughts of fleeing to their former home.

Upon at last reaching the refuge of their destination,

The blessed people found, the rapture and beauty of the land

To which God’s hand had led them was incomprehensible,

The splendor of it calling them to embark upon its shores;

But Ah, God’s beloved children refused this temptation;

They knew an imperative work remained, for God had led them here

For a purpose, which they would not let die. Remaining on the fetid vessel

Which had imprisoned them already for so many nights and days,

The people prayed to that Being, who in His mercy

Had brought them to His most choice land, for a law.

The law was given, and a marvelous compact was drafted:

A covenant man to God, God to man, and man to man,

Which all vowed solemnly to live by.

Father and Son, Creators of the World,

Sat together again, gazing out over the vast expanse of time,

Upon the children who would follow forth upon this land,

Each realizing his own role in the Heavenly plan

Of the salvation of men: A group of men drawn together

In the cause of freedom, to unite all the people of the infant country

Into a single nation of grandeur and power,

By the combining of all laws righteous and just, under God;

Strong men fighting against tyranny, oppression, and a mother land

Whose hand gripped the people with impassiveness and contempt;

To the subsequent man who would, in the midst of a nation

Governed by the statute of Heaven, be able

To restore all of the pure and simple truths of the High Kingdoms

To the expanse of mortal men over the whole earth.

Those first children, unaware of the magnificent future

Of America that lay ahead, began plowing and churning the soil,

Rich with the vital minerals of truth, which had been spread by that God of love

So many eons before; a prosperous civilization began to be sown;

One of the most powerful nations, vied by all others,

Would be reaped in the succeeding centuries: a beacon of freedom and refuge

To those who would embark upon its shores,

Paying homage to the One who reigns over it,

That Merciful God of Heaven and earth.