“Sweet Feedom’s Song”

Today is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, now celebrated as part of the President’s Day holiday.  It is still vital that we honor the passion he bought to serve and save the nation and our better selves.

A Poem of America

My Country, ‘Tis of Thee“, also known as  “America“, is learned in grade school and sung at most public and patrioc events. The lyrics  were written by Samuel Francis Smith.[2] The song served as one of the de facto national anthems of the United States  before the adoption of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the official U.S. national anthem in 1931.[3] (Wikipedia)

Ironically, the melody used is adapted from the national anthem of the United Kingdom, “God Save the King“.   Below is a version using the song’s meter and words to communicate a message in poetry calling for Lincoln’s vision to be realized.

 

My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Would I could sing;
Its land of Pilgrim’s pride
Also where lynched men died
With such upon her tide,
Freedom can’t reign.

My native country, thee
The world pronounce you free
Thy name I love;
But when the lynchers rise
To slaughter human lives
Thou closest up thine eyes,
Thy God’s above.

Let Negroes smell the breeze
So they can sing with ease
Sweet freedom’s song;
Let justice reign supreme,
Let men be what they seem
Break up that lyncher’s screen,
Lay down all wrong.

Our fathers’ God, to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing;
How can our land be bright?
Can lynching be a light?
Protect us by thy might,
Great God our king!

Frank Barbour Coffin, born on January 12, 1870, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, was an African American poet and pharmacist who owned and operated one of the earliest drugstores serving the Black community of Little Rock, Arkansas. He authored one poetry collection, Coffin’s Poems with Ajax’ Ordeals (The Colored Advocate, 1897), and his poetry was otherwise published in journals. Coffin died on March 1, 1951, in Little Rock.  (Souce:  Poets.org)

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