The Constitution is 221 years old today:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Read the whole thing.
HT: Simon
Showing posts with label literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label literature. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tag, I'm It!
In accepting Simon's tag, I'll give it a go. I'm in my computer room, so I'll pick the closest book I see on that bookshelf, which is Faulkner's Light in August:
Faulkner is one of my favorites.
Now, the tagging of five others could be a problem, seeing as I'm not sure they'd even notice, let alone respond (I don't have that many blogger connections). I could of course double-tag my fellow co-bloggers, but I can try and tag the crew at Centerfield (you post over there now, don't you, Max?, Shay over at Booker Rising, Jon Swift, the Walrus, and in the small chance she reads this, Althouse.
OK, then.
He said, "Have you told her?"
The woman sat on the bed. She seemed to sink slowly back upon it, clutching the garment, watching him, her face blanched.
Faulkner is one of my favorites.
Now, the tagging of five others could be a problem, seeing as I'm not sure they'd even notice, let alone respond (I don't have that many blogger connections). I could of course double-tag my fellow co-bloggers, but I can try and tag the crew at Centerfield (you post over there now, don't you, Max?, Shay over at Booker Rising, Jon Swift, the Walrus, and in the small chance she reads this, Althouse.
OK, then.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Poignant Verse for Memorial Day
I was looking around for some timely verse to commemorate Memorial Day, and I think I found a good one. It's by Henry van Dyke, written during the latter days of World War I, calling America to her mantle:
Thou warden of the western gate, above Manhatten Bay,
The fogs of doubt that hid thy face are driven clean away:
Thine eyes at last look far and clear, thou liftest high thy hand
To spread the light of liberty world-wide for every land.
No more thou dreamest of a peace reserved alone for thee,
While friends are fighting for thy cause beyond the guardian sea:
The battle that they wage is thine; thou fallest if they fall;
The swollen flood of Prussian pride will sweep unchecked o'er all.
O cruel is the conquer-lust in Hohenzollern brains;
The paths they plot to gain their goal are dark with shameful stains:
No faith they keep, no law revere, no god but naked Might; --
They are the foemen of mankind. Up, Liberty, and smite!
Britain, and France, and Italy, and Russia newly born,
Have waited for thee in the night. Oh, come as comes the morn.
O dearest country of my heart, home of the high desire,
Make clean thy soul for sacrifice on Freedom's altar-fire:
For thou must suffer, thou must fight, until the warlords cease,
And all the peoples lift their heads in liberty and peace.
Henry van Dyke April 10, 1917
Thou warden of the western gate, above Manhatten Bay,
The fogs of doubt that hid thy face are driven clean away:
Thine eyes at last look far and clear, thou liftest high thy hand
To spread the light of liberty world-wide for every land.
No more thou dreamest of a peace reserved alone for thee,
While friends are fighting for thy cause beyond the guardian sea:
The battle that they wage is thine; thou fallest if they fall;
The swollen flood of Prussian pride will sweep unchecked o'er all.
O cruel is the conquer-lust in Hohenzollern brains;
The paths they plot to gain their goal are dark with shameful stains:
No faith they keep, no law revere, no god but naked Might; --
They are the foemen of mankind. Up, Liberty, and smite!
Britain, and France, and Italy, and Russia newly born,
Have waited for thee in the night. Oh, come as comes the morn.
Serene and strong and full of faith, America, arise,
With steady hope and mighty help to join th brave Allies.
With steady hope and mighty help to join th brave Allies.
O dearest country of my heart, home of the high desire,
Make clean thy soul for sacrifice on Freedom's altar-fire:
For thou must suffer, thou must fight, until the warlords cease,
And all the peoples lift their heads in liberty and peace.
Henry van Dyke April 10, 1917
Thursday, April 12, 2007
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